Mozambique: Police detain 30 protesting lorry drivers in Maputo, Nampula, Sofala – Lusa

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Mozambique: Police detain 30 protesting lorry drivers in Maputo, Nampula, Sofala – Lusa

3:02 CAT | 03 Dec 2020

FILE PHOTO: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

A total of 30 lorry drivers were detained on Wednesday in the provinces of Maputo, Nampula and Sofala, as they were staging protests to demand better working conditions, the Mozambican Drivers Association (AMMO) told Lusa on Thursday.

“The police arrived on the road, picked up the drivers and took them to jail,” said João Festo, vice president of AMMO. “We do not know, until now, what the reason was, as the demonstration was peaceful and was authorised.”

The lorry drivers left their vehicles standing by the roadside in protest, and the association believes that the authorities may have seen this action as blocking the road.

Also read: Mozambique: Police arrest truck drivers demanding better working conditions – – RFI

The demonstration was called to demand better working conditions, payment of wages owed, and formal recognition of the profession in order to guarantee, among other things, employment contracts and contributions to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS).

“Our demands are old and known to the government, but nothing is done”, said Festo.

According to the association, of the 30 detentions, 19 were in Nampula province, in the north of Mozambique, 10 in Sofala province, in the centre of the country, and one in Maputo, in the south.

“We went to the office of the public prosecutors to understand the reasons for the arrest and what can be done to free our colleagues,” Festo said, adding that members of the association had made contributions of food to be taken to the detainees.

Also read: Truck drivers protest in EN1: Owners must pay – fines for tyres and missing extinguishers Mozambique

AMMO views the detentions as a way to discourage protests, but has pledged to continue them.

“We will continue, we cannot stop, without a solution”, Festo stressed.

In Mozambique there are around 30,000 drivers of lorries transporting goods over long distances inside and outside the country, according to AMMO figures.

Source: Lusa