Mozambique: Terrorists cause panic in Mecufi town - AIM report
Photo: in file CoM
The Mozambican police on Friday illegally frustrated an attempt to hold a press conference by the Maputo city delegation of the Association of Human Rights Networks (ARDH).
The press conference was intended to explain the ARDH opposition to the increase in bus fares that will take effect in Maputo as from Monday.
It was scheduled for 10.00 in the Maputo neighbourhood of Xipamanine. But ARDH members and reporters were taken by surprise when they saw a heavy police contingent on board a pickup truck, which was parked on the opposite side of the street right in front of the premises.
As the speaker, Sergio Matsinhe, the head of the ARDH Maputo delegation, approached the building, the police officers who blocked the entrance did not allow him to enter. After several unsuccessful attempts, he decided to address the journalists on the pavement.
However, the police officers on the site warned him against the move and dragged him into the truck. Their excuse was that he had planned a press conference of which the authorities had not been formally informed.
But there is nothing in the law which obliges the organisers of press conferences to inform the police or any other authority.
“I would like to speak with you, but as you can see I am now getting forced and ordered by the police to go to a police station for questioning, about what I also do not know,” Matsinhe told reporters as he was taken to the police vehicle.
This is the second time in less than a month that the Maputo police have illegally violated citizens’ freedom of assembly.
On 7 December, the police forcibly broke up a demonstration in central Maputo of women activists protesting against gender-based violence. Although the gathering was entirely peaceful and broke no laws, the police demanded that the women disperse, and when they refused to do so, the police used force and 19 of the protestors were briefly arrested.
One of the women, Quiteria Guirengane, told reporters she was surprised by the police behaviour. “We informed them of our demonstration on 29 November”, she said. “That’s nine days in advance, when the law only requires four days”.
The only excuse the police gave for their behaviour was that the demonstration had not been authorised – but under the Mozambican constitution and the law on freedom of assembly, peaceful demonstrations need no authorisation. The organisers should merely notify the authorities.
Press conferences require neither authorisation nor notification. The police action on Friday might thus set an ominous precedent.
The subject of the press conference was to have been the impending increase of up to 25 per cent in the city’s bus fares. The flat rate fare for a journey of under ten kilometres will rise from ten meticais (about 16 US cents) to 12 meticais. For longer journeys, the increase is from 12 to 15 meticais.
The transport operators say fares have not risen since 2015. They claim that without a fare rise they cannot possibly operate at a profit, particularly after the late October increase in fuel prices. The Maputo Municipal Assembly approved the fare rises on 17 December – but only deputies of the ruling Frelimo Party voted in favour.
Deputies of the two opposition parties, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), warned that the new fares will have a very strong impact on the earnings and savings of a great number of poor households.
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