Maputo: Municipal Police unfairly beat and detained citizen – Watch | O País

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Maputo: Municipal Police unfairly beat and detained citizen – Watch | O País

3:53 CAT | 28 May 2021

Screen grab: O País / STV

Maputo Municipal Police unjustly beat and detained a 33-year-old man on a Maputo street , despite citizens calling for them to exercise restraint.

The assault was caught in an amateur video in which cries of disapproval at the policemen’s behaviour could be heard.

The victim of the assault was Pinto Tembe, a father of two children affectionately known as “Xirico”, who says he does not know why he was beaten and forced under the seats of a police vehicle. He further alleges that he was beaten again at the police station.

“When I arrived at the police station, there were seven policemen, and each one gave me ten blows with a sjambok. They beat me badly – I don’t know why. I had my dog standing there and, when they arrived, they started grabbing people’s goods. I was just helping my colleagues so they wouldn’t lose their products,” Tembe said.

Ginoca Francisco, who was present at the time, says she tried to help, but in vain, and the police agents just carried on.

“If the police act like that, we will not survive. This is inhumane. They arrived here, that gentleman was only defending his colleagues, and his attempt to defend them ended badly. He was beaten, he was dragged off as if it was nothing. My voice was not heard, and I tried to defend that man in every way. Life cannot be like that,” Francisco said.

The Commander of the Municipal Police, Ernesto Zualo, has apologised to the victim and residents of the capital on behalf of the corporation, and says that the four Kalhamanculo Municipal District agents have been suspended.

“There was an excess of zeal, but we want to say that it is not the usual modus vivendi, that it is not a command that we gave to our agents and, for this reason, there is already a process in place to hold our agents responsible. I want to take this opportunity to apologise to the citizen and to citizens in general. The Municipal Police completely opposes this type of behaviour,” Zualo said.

Pinto Tembe, who still suffers from the assault and has visible bruises and injuries on many parts of his body, says he is indifferent to the apology.

This is allegedly not the first time that police officers have assaulted salespeople in the Aeroporto ‘A’ neighbourhood, although it is thought to be the first time that they have been filmed and the video released on social media networks.

Source: O País / STV