Mozambique: Police deploys tear gas to disperse Mondlane supporters in Maputo after a new hearing at the PGR is announced

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Police deploys tear gas to disperse Mondlane supporters in Maputo after a new hearing at the PGR is announced

6:01 CAT | 21 Jul 2025

Photo: Lusa

Venâncio Mondlane will be heard on Tuesday (22) at the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) in connection with the post-election protests, the politician announced upon arriving in Maputo this Monday afternoon. After Mondlane had left the airport and as he was making his way to the centre of the city, the police deployed tear gas, dispersing his supporters.

“It’s a blatant example of a government that imposes itself by force. Without weapons, it has no rhetoric. Without weapons, it has no policy. Without weapons, it has no ideas. Therefore, that’s the only interpretation I can make,” said the politician, who does not recognize the results of the October 9 general elections, in statements to Lusa after he ad left Maputo airport.

The former presidential candidate spent a few weeks in Europe, making contacts in Portugal and Germany, and announced that he would arrive at Maputo International Airport this Monday afternoon.

He was greeted by several dozen supporters around 3:30 PM local time, chanting “Hail Mozambique, this country is ours,” the same as during the electoral campaign and the post-election demonstrations.

At 4 PM local time, the politician, surrounded by a human frame and with several police units positioned inside and on the avenues adjacent to the airport, left the airport for his home in downtown Maputo.

Mondlane was escorted by several Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) vehicles, which fired more than a dozen tear gas rounds during the 10-minute drive, while supporters gathered in the streets upon seeing him on the roof of the vehicle, facing a near-blockade of traffic.

Supp.lusa_

DOC.20250721.45358452.MAC_7853

“It is, in fact, an acknowledgement that this government has no legitimacy whatsoever. This government has absolutely no social base. This government is distant from the people, and the only way they have of conducting politics, instead of presenting alternative public policies that respond to the needs of the people, the only way they position themselves in politics is through the use of weapons,” Mondlane criticized.

Source: Lusa