Mozambique: Young man shot dead in police charge

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Mozambique: Young man shot dead in police charge

4:20 CAT | 18 Mar 2025

File photo: CDD Facebook

A young man was shot in Maputo on Tuesday, a new case related to Mozambique’s post-election social unrest, with people blaming the police and carrying the body to the National 4 (N4) road, leading the police to charge.

The unrest began in the morning in Casa Branca, around 500 metres from the Maputo tolls on the N4, the main road linking the Ressano Garcia border crossing with South Africa. People were marking the so-called “Day of the True Heroes of the Mozambican People,” unilaterally instituted by former candidate Venâncio Mondlane.

At the scene, people reported that the police entered the neighbourhood near the N4 during the morning, fatally shooting one of the youths in the head, throwing tear gas and firing several shots.

“It’s a normal holiday, nobody closed the road. Suddenly, the Municipal Council and the UIR show up and start firing without asking anything,” said one of the young men, wearing a mask, protecting himself from the gas thrown shortly before and saying that they were in the street cleaning up and celebrating the so-called “Day of the True Heroes of the Mozambican People”.

Another young man explained that his colleague “wasn’t doing anything”. He was shot “coming out of his house”, which sparked a riot within the neighbourhood, which quickly moved on to the N4, throwing stones at vehicles, including police vehicles, and later trying to vandalise a commercial space, which led to further police intervention.

“They [police] immediately shot me in the head, leaving, without asking (…) We didn’t do anything,” said the young man.

At around 11:30 local time (09:30 in Lisbon), a group of young people carried the body of the dead man to the central reservation of the N4, cutting off traffic there, with members of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) of the Mozambican police firing tear gas and live fire several times, trying unsuccessfully to disperse the protest and collect the body.

After an hour of tension, the police managed to move the youths away from the victim’s body, which was quickly removed by members of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) despite resistance from the people.

Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the results of the 9 October general elections, called for the country to stop today, designating 18 March as the “Day of the True Heroes of the Mozambican People”.

This call has led many to see today as a holiday. Maputo city sees little traffic, which is abnormal for a Tuesday. In some outlying neighbourhoods,, traffic is restricted, and there have been some demonstrations and social unrest.

On 18 March 2023, Mozambican police officers claimed to have “superior orders”, which have never been clarified, to disperse groups who wanted to hold peaceful marches in various parts of the country in honour of the social intervention rapper Azagaia, who had died a week earlier.

Hundreds of people also gathered at Michafutene cemetery today, remembering Azagaia and Elvino Dias – both buried there – the latter known as the “people’s lawyer”, shot several times on the night of 18 October 2024 in Maputo.

Elvino Dias was Venâncio Mondlane’s legal advisor at the time, and Paulo Guambe, a member of Podemos, the party that supported the presidential candidate, was also in the car hit by unknown assailants.

This crime has yet to be clarified by the police and marked the beginning of the post-election violence that is still taking place in Mozambique and which has already caused almost 400 deaths, according to non-governmental organisations.

Edson da Luz (Azagaia), Elvino Dias, and Paulo Guambe are among the 14 people that Venâncio Mondlane defends as “national heroes”. These include Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), Carlos Cardoso, José Craveirinha, and Afonso Dhlakama, the founder of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).

Source: Lusa