Mozambique Elections: Rioting breaks out against election results – AIM

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique Elections: Rioting breaks out against election results – AIM

9:39 CAT | 27 Oct 2023

Maputo, 27 October, 2023. [Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa]

Rioting broke out on Thursday night and Friday morning in Maputo and the northern cities of Nampula and Nacala in protest at the provisional results of the municipal elections announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE).

The first riots took place in Nacala shortly after the results were announced on Thursdat afternoon. According to the latest issue of the bulletin on the elections issued by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), groups of youths started throwing stones at shop windows and some vehicles.

The police fired shots, and in Nacala Central Market, one man was hit and killed by a blunt object. Shooting continued throughout the night, and shots were still heard on Friday morning.

According to a report in the independent daily “O Pais”, Renamo in Nacala issued a note claiming that some of the demonstrators were not Renamo supporters at all, but just “opportunists”. Some of the goods damaged belonged to local Renamo leaders, including the car of the Renamo Nacala political delegate, Rassi Daudo.

In Nampula, supporters of the main opposition party, Renamo, threw up barricades. A ten year old child was shot as he left school during the demonstrations, and another person was shot in Namicopo neighbourhood.

Reports circulated that a police officer had been attacked, and died in Nampula Central Hospital. However, a police spokesperson, interviewed by the independent television station STV, categorically denied that any policemen had been injured.

The demonstrations led shops and public institutions in Nampula to close, and schools sent their pupils home.

Police circulated in the main streets, putting out fires started by demonstrators who set piles of old tyres alight. The police also opened fire, notably in the neighbourhods of Namicopo, Namutequeliua and Muahivire.

Renamo insists that it won the elections in Nampula, and it will not hand the municipality over to the Frelimo mayoral candidate, Luis Giquira.

In Maputo, the Renamo mayoral candidate, Venancio Mondlane, led a march on Friday morning from Workers’ Square, near the railway station, towards the headquarters of the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.

The election results are not final until they have been validated and proclaimed by the Council. Mondlane insisted that the march was intended to be peaceful, and he told the marchers not to damage the premises of the Constitutional Council. Once at the Council, the marchers would demand that it show transparency and impartiality.

He urged Renamo supporters to “stop everything” in the city, in protests against “the murder of democracy”.

During the march, he told reporters that, unless Renamo’s victory in the elections is acknowledged, the citizens of Maputo should go on a tax strike. They should not pay any of the various taxes and fees charged by the Municipal Council – that would include the municipal property tax, the municipal vehicle tax, and the fees paid by market vendors.

He described the preliminary results announced by the CNE as “worse than a piece of toilet paper. They are worth absolutely nothing”.

Despite Mondlane’s call for a peaceful march some of his supporters vandalized buildings and vehicles.

The police blocked the march at the junction between 24th July and Amilcar Cabral Avenues, and were clearly determined not to allow the demonstrators to approach the Constitutional Council.

Repeatedly, the police fired tear gas into the crowd. The marchers responded by throwing stones at the police. Some of the stones missed their targets and damaged parked vehicles.

Eventually, the marchers changed route and headed for the Renamo headquarters. Here Mondlane told them to disperse and go home.

Source: AIM