This Thursday, 31 October, the police dispersed dozens of demonstrators who were trying to reach Maputo city centre with several shots of tear gas, Lusa reported .
According to the agency, the dispersal took place at around 2pm, after a few moments of stalemate, with a police armoured vehicle already crossed in the street, a few hundred metres from the Mozambican Women’s Organisation (OMM) square, in the city centre, where the force commander appealed, as Lusa witnessed on the spot, several times for the group not to advance, in the Polana Caniço neighbourhood.
With a police helicopter monitoring the area, several shots of tear gas followed, which drove the demonstrators away, with the police maintaining their position, without further action, despite the reinforcement of security at the scene.
Also on Thursday (31), the general commander of the corporation, Bernardino Rafael, reported that at least 36 members of the Mozambique Republic Police (PRM) were injured during clashes between members of the corporation and demonstrators during the strikes called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
‘After the call, the police were called to intervene in 58 demonstrations, 38 of which were violent. I have 36 bedridden members, some of whom will no longer be able to work as PRM officers,’ he said.
At a press conference after a meeting with the leader of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), Bernardino Rafael labelled the demonstrations that have been called by Mondlane as ‘violent’.
‘We have all witnessed these violent demonstrations. Cars have been burnt, tyres on the roads, state institutions, commercial establishments and even the premises where the police work, who were the main partner from registration to the election campaign, have been vandalised,’ lamented Bernardino Rafael.
Previously, the police had announced that one member of the force had been killed and 21 injured, including serious and minor injuries, as a result of the demonstrations throughout the country.
