Now Reading
General Strike: Government Denies ‘Objective Intention’ to Fire Tear Gas to Journalists During Clashes

General Strike: Government Denies ‘Objective Intention’ to Fire Tear Gas to Journalists During Clashes

This Tuesday, 22 October, the government denied that there was any ‘objective intention’ to fire tear gas at journalists during clashes between police and demonstrators in the city of Maputo, with at least three professionals injured.

‘What I can’t assume, because it’s not true, because I also witnessed it, is that there were shots fired at journalists,’ said Filimão Suaze, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, speaking to journalists after another session of the body.

According to the official, quoted by Lusa, the journalists were hit by tear gas bullets because they were positioned in a place where there were also demonstrators that the police wanted to disperse, which led to the interruption of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane’s press conference.

The source added that the officers on duty, who were dispersing the ‘informal gatherings’, may not have been able to distinguish the journalists from the demonstrators at one point.

‘I can’t say that there was an objective intention to hit any journalist with these objects,’ said the spokesman, noting that the government will comment on the matter in due course and after an analysis.

‘There will be a pronouncement on this matter in due course, when an analysis has been made of the extent to which journalists were hit, what the consequences were and to what extent it can be seen as an action to cut off your work, which it certainly wasn’t,’ he promised.

This Tuesday, 22 October, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) repudiated the acts of violence against professionals that took place on Monday, and also called for journalists to always act in compliance with personal safety measures.

‘The executive secretariat of the SNJ is working to ascertain the details of the incident,’ the organisation said in a statement sent to the media.

On Monday, the police suppressed demonstrations called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane against alleged electoral fraud and the murder of two of his supporters, including his lawyer, Elvino Dias.

Venâncio Mondlane’s supporters took the protests to various neighbourhoods, in the city centre and in the suburbs, such as Polana Caniço, Xiquelene and Maxaquene, where the police fired shots and threw tear gas to disperse any gathering and the demonstrators, in turn, responded by throwing stones and burning tyres.

There will be a statement on this in due course, when we have analysed to what extent journalists were hit, what the consequences were and to what extent it could be seen as an action to cut off your work, which it certainly wasn’t

At least 16 people were injured, five of whom are still hospitalised, a hospital source said today, and another 30 citizens were arrested in the capital, according to the Mozambican Bar Association.

The police response to the demonstrations was condemned by the international community and there were several calls for restraint from both sides, namely Portugal, the European Union and the African Union.

The capital returned to normality today, with transport running and traffic queues in the city’s main streets, with police reinforcements visible after the violent clashes of the previous day.

See Also

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane today called for two more days of national ‘peaceful’ stoppages and demonstrations in Mozambique starting on Thursday (24), the day the results of the general elections are expected to be announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR NEWSLETTERS:

SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR NEWSLETTERS:

Scroll To Top

We have detected that you are using AdBlock Plus or other adblocking software which is causing you to not be able to view 360 Mozambique in its entirety.

Please add www.360mozambique.com to your adblocker’s whitelist or disable it by refreshing afterwards so you can view the site.