This Tuesday, 29 October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded an impartial investigation into reports of disproportionate force used by police against demonstrators protesting against the election results, pointing to 11 deaths as a result of the clashes, the Lusa news agency reported .
‘The authorities must promptly and impartially investigate the excessive use of force,’ the international organisation said in a statement distributed to the media on Tuesday (29), quoted by Lusa.
According to the organisation, at issue are last week’s clashes between police and supporters of Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate who rejects the results presented by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) on the 9 October vote.
Mondlane began by calling for a ‘general strike’, but after the murder of his lawyer Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, head of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which supports him, he called his supporters to take to the streets to protest ‘peacefully’, and clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in various parts of the country, with injuries and arrests, as well as shops being closed.
HRW reveals that at least 11 people died and dozens more were injured during police operations in residential areas.
The authorities must promptly and impartially investigate the excessive use of force
‘More than 50 people suffered serious injuries, and many, including children as young as one year old, inhaled tear gas that the police fired indiscriminately in residential areas,’ says the organisation’s statement, which also recalls that the Constitution of the Republic protects the rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
On Monday (28), the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) announced that it had opened criminal proceedings against Venâncio Mondlane and his supporters for the escalation of post-election violence in the country.
More than 50 people suffered serious injuries, and many, including children as young as one year old, inhaled tear gas that the police fired indiscriminately in residential areas
‘The PRM has already opened criminal proceedings against Venâncio Mondlane and his sympathisers for the crimes of setting fire to a police station, possession of an AK-47 firearm, acts that have put not only the district of Moma but also the province of Nampula into turmoil,’ said the spokesman for the corporation, Orlando Mudumane.
The National Electoral Commission announced on Thursday (24) the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the election for Mozambican President, with 70.67 per cent of the votes.
Venâncio Mondlane came second with 20.32%, but says he doesn’t recognise the results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
