Fresh anti-government protests erupted in Mozambique Wednesday after a police vehicle mowed down a woman at a demonstration in the capital in support of the opposition leader disputing October elections.
Venancio Mondlane has rejected the results of the October 9 vote and led a weeks-long standoff that has been brutally suppressed by the police.
AFP reporters at the scene of one of Wednesday’s protests said demonstrators hurled stones at security forces who fired bullets and tear gas as clashes broke out after a woman was struck while standing behind a large banner of Mondlane.
In a video of the incident that went viral on social media, an armoured police vehicle is seen driving over the woman. Other clips show her being helped into another vehicle, apparently alive but in a serious condition.
“I saw it with my own eyes, her arm is broken, her leg is broken,” a witness told AFP. “We don’t know if she’ll survive.”
Elsewhere in Maputo, people marched to the central Fighter’s Square, a hub for the city’s poorer suburbs, shouting slogans such as “Frelimo out” against the ruling party that has been in power since 1975.
“I’m sorry for what happened with that woman,” said Joaquim Fernando, one of around 100 protesters at the scene. “I don’t agree with a brutal act like that. Every citizen has the right to demonstrate,” the 26-year-old told AFP.
“We demand that Venancio Mondlane be our president because that’s who we voted for,” said another protestor, Olavio Jose, 24.
Rights groups have accused police of killing dozens of people in post-election protests after the authorities said Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo got 71 percent, far ahead of Mondlane’s 20 percent of votes.
The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, a local civil society group, told AFP last week it knew of 65 people killed in police operations against the demonstrations.
Human Rights Watch said Monday that Mozambican security forces killed at least 10 children and injured dozens more.
President Filipe Nyusi, who is due to step down in January, said in a state of the nation address on November 19 that 19 people had died, including five police officers.
There were also new protests Wednesday at Mozambique’s main border post with South Africa where trucks were being prevented from moving, according to the South African border authority.
The crossing, a key link for exporters using Maputo’s Indian Ocean port, has been closed several times by protests over the past weeks.
AFP
AFP
