Mozambique: Police shoot, injure four dispersing motorcyclists in Mogovolas

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Mozambique: Police shoot, injure four dispersing motorcyclists in Mogovolas

7:00 CAT | 07 Jul 2023

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

Four people, including three teenagers, were shot when the police fired in an attempt to prevent a motorbike race in Nampula province, public broadcaster Televisão de Moçambique (TVM) reported on Thursday.

TVM said the incident occurred on Sunday in Mogovolas district when the population gathered to watch a motorbike race, which was being held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the creation of the district’s town.

A spokesman for the corporation told the channel that an officer was forced to shoot to disperse a crowd that had gathered in front of the police station in Mogvoolas to demand the return of motorbikes that were seized by the authorities.

“Some of the motorcyclists mutinied at the district command with the intention of storming the command” and among them were “individuals of bad faith, who went with the intention of creating riots and not to recover the motorbikes,” the spokesman said.

The shots that hit the victims were due to “a procedural error” by the officer, and the case is being investigated by the authorities, he added.

The motorbikes that were going to take part in the race, which has since been cancelled, are used as taxis and are one of the main means of transporting passengers in some districts of northern Mozambique.

The Mozambican police are often accused of excessive and unjustified use of force against civilians and criminal suspects.

Source: Lusa