The capital of Mozambique, Maputo, was brought to a standstill by strikes and protests on Monday, before police dispersed demonstrators using tear gas. Caught up in the violence was opposition leader Venancio Mondlane.
Police in Mozambique fired tear gas at the country’s opposition leader and his supporters on the streets of the capital Maputo on Monday.
Venancio Mondlane, the main challenger to the ruling Frelimo party in the recent presidential election, was speaking to journalists close to the spot where his lawyer and a senior opposition party official were killed by unidentified gunmen on Friday night.
Video footage posted to Mondlane’s Facebook page shows tear gas canisters being fired as Mondlane, aides, supporters and reporters run for cover.
At least one journalist was injured, according to local media, while several others, including those from DW, inhaled the gas.
Additional footage seen by DW shows at least one protester left limping with a bloodied leg after being struck by a projectile.
Rising tensions in Mozambique
Tensions have been soaring in Mozambique since elections on October 9.
Results aren’t expected until later this week, but preliminary results suggest that Frelimo (the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) is set to extend its 49-year rule which dates back to the southeastern African country’s independence from Portugal in 1975.
Opposition parties have denounced the elections as fraudulent, with Mondlane calling for people to stay away from work and protest on Monday.
Mondlane, who ran as an independent candidate but was backed by the new Podemos opposition party, told reporters that police had tried to prevent him from leaving his own house to join the protest.
“The whole of last night, police cars were at my doorstep,” he said. “I was trying to find other ways to leave the house without being noticed. I did. I won’t say how.”
On Monday morning, the national strike had brought Maputo and other major cities to a standstill with shops closed and streets deserted as a helicopter circled overhead.
Clashes between protesters and police began around 7:30 a.m. when security forces began to disperse groups preparing to take part in the peaceful marches.
After police fired tear gas and gunshots into the air, protesters responded by throwing rocks and pyrotechnics and shouting slogans such as “Save Mozambique” and “This country is ours.”
International community condemns violence
Activists and reporters have complained in the past that Mozambique’s security forces have violently clamped down on dissent, broken up peaceful protests and disrupted media work, while Frelimo has often been accused of rigging elections, which it denies.
The African Union, European Union and United Nations have condemned Friday’s killing of the two opposition figures and called on the authorities to identify the perpetrators.
The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said he had “deep concern” over “reported cases of post-election violence and in particular the recent killings.”
The European Union, which sent a team of election observers, called for an immediate investigation into the killings “that will bring to justice those responsible for this outrageous crime.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on “all Mozambicans, including political leaders and their supporters, to remain calm, exercise restraint and reject all forms of violence.”
