Hidden Debts: A simple case of bribery - AIM report
Photo: DW
Police detained five people and beat demonstrators in Quelimane on Tuesday, claiming that a march was to support the elected mayor in his intention to take office tomorrow was not authorised.
Hundreds of Renamo supporters, Mozambique’s largest opposition party, took to the streets of Quelimane on Tuesday with banners and songs, demanding former mayor Manuel de Araújo’s return to power.
But police quashed the protest before demonstrators had covered even 20 metres. Officers assaulted and detained five people, including one woman, dragging demonstrators to the ground and beating them with sjamboks and firing into the ground to disperse the group.
Diário da Zambézia journalist Nhama Matabico was also attacked: “I was filming and they attacked me. I’m fine, thank God, but I lost my phone and have hand injuries. I can only condemn the police for attacking me in the proper exercise of my profession.”
March illegal, police say
A police officer, who declined to identify himself, said that the march was illegal and that he was just doing his job. “It is our duty, as law-abiding citizens, to comply with and enforce the law. The police were not informed, nor the municipality, and we cannot allow traffic in the city to be disrupted.”
The march was called because of rumours circulating in Quelimane that Manuel de Araújo might be prevented from taking office this Thursday – inauguration day for all mayors in Mozambique.
De Araújo won the municipal elections in Quelimane last October, but there is still speculation as to whether a ruling by the Administrative Tribunal, which led to the loss of Araujo’s previous mandate, will prevent him from taking up the new mandate.
Renamo says Manuel de Araújo will take office
“The only information we have is that he will take office,” Renamo delegate Latifo Charifo says. “There is no official information that says he will not do so. Araújo will take office on the 7th,” he reiterates.
Quelimane has experienced tension in the run-up to the inauguration. Current acting president of the Quelimane Municipal Council, Domingos de Albuquerque, said that after Manuel de Araújo left, he found the coffers completely empty.
“The City Council does not have any money. Representatives of the administrative guardianship and the provincial government must determine what happens next,” he has said.
According to Albuquerque, municipal assembly members have not been paid for four months.
Momentos depois dos pronunciamentos do Delegado do Partido RENAMO em Quelimane, no arranque na marcha, irrompeu no espaço um forte contingente policial e que indiscriminadamente começou a violentar os populares com recurso a… https://t.co/lLC48NAkKC pic.twitter.com/fYUARbeQr4
— Jornal Txopela (@Jornal_Txopela) February 5, 2019
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