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Mozambique: Protest against maternal deaths in Lichinga ends in tear gas and arrests
1:56 CAT | 02 Sep 2019
Protesters in Lichinga, Niassa. Picture: DW
Protesters demanding action over the deaths of four women at the city’s maternity hospital last week met police crack-down with tear gas and at least 20 people detained.
Armed with posters and banners that read, “We want midwives, not killers,” “No more women and children killed in Lichinga Maternity,” members of the public in the capital of Niassa province took to the streets on Saturday (31.08) to show their outrage at the deaths of pregnant women at the province’s largest maternity hospital.
Four women lost their lives in Lichinga Provincial Hospital maternity ward on the last two months, two of them last week, some of their babies along with them, prompting protesters to take to the streets to voice their discontent and demand that the authorities address the situation, march organiser and social activist Tino Daniel said.
“The death of a university lecturer in Lichinga on Tuesday (27.08), and other women going to the maternity hospital and returning in coffins,” is what prompted the protest, he said.
“We are young, we sympathise and we think this is one way of inviting those responsible to make a change, because we are concerned. Let there be an inquiry, because these deaths are costing the lives of children, and families are losing their loved ones,” he said. “We don’t want that, which is why we came together to protest.”
The cases Tito Daniel was speaking about are not the first of women who have died in childbirth at the unit.
There have been a number of reports on social networks about poor treatment in the maternity ward, especially nursing care, but also lack of oxygen, medicines and other materials.
According to sources from Lichinga Provincial Hospital, the minister in the area requested an inspection to clarify the situation, but no actual cause of death has so far been disclosed, with authorities only citing “complications in childbirth” so far.
Police repression
The peaceful protest however ended in arrests when police stepped in to prevent the march from continuing up along certain routes, using tear gas to disperse the protesters.
At least twenty people were arrested and detained at the Lichinga 1st Precinct Police Station, only to be released two hours later.
Protesters criticised the police action, claiming that the march was legal because they had informed the authorities in advance.
“We were conducting a peaceful demonstration. When we arrived at the roundabout, we were tear-gassed. We don’t know why. Some of us fled into the church, but still the police went in and arrested them,” march participant Silvina João said.
DW Africa tried without success to secure a comment from the police.
Source: Deutsche Welle / Carta de Moçambique
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