MAPUTO: The Mozambique capital is returning to normal, with transport running and traffic queues around the city, while police maintain a visible presence on the street following Monday’s violent demonstrations to protest the killing of two opposition leaders on Friday.
The strong police presence included armoured vehicles from the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) strategically placed in Monday’s protest hotspots. Burnt tyres and destroyed rubbish containers still litter the streets.
Avenida Joaquim Chissano was the centre of the protests, especially near where the double murder of two supporters of Venâncio Mondlane took place on Friday. Gunmen killed Mondlane’s lawyer, Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, leader of the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), the party that supported Mondlane’s presidential campaign.
Mondlane’s supporters who are also contesting the preliminary results of the general elections of October 9, took the protests to several neighbourhoods in the city centre and suburbs such as Polana Caniço, Xiquelene and Maxaquene, where the police also fired shots and launched tear gas to disperse gatherings.
In addition to the capital, clashes and demonstrations were reported throughout Monday in several other Mozambican cities.
Mondlane accused the police of firing “real bullets” at protesters during the marches and stated that Mozambicans had come together to “save the country.”
The presidential candidate called for the marches on Saturday as a way of condemning Dias and Guambe’s murder.
Jm/news wires/today/23.10.2024
