Maputo – Mozambican police violently dispersed a march by opposition leader Venancio Mondlane using live ammunition and injured at least 14 people, local civil society group Plataforma Decide said Wednesday.
Hundreds of supporters had joined Mondlane’s caravan in the capital Maputo, part of his tour of the Southern African country to present his new political party.
“We can confirm that at this moment 14 people are injured, including two children,” Plataforma Decide coordinator Wilker Dias told AFP.
“The police were using live ammunition and tear gas to break up the Mondlane march,” he said.
In a video live streamed on social media, gunshot sounds could be heard as the march approached a camouflage-coloured armoured vehicle.
The crowd then dispersed in panic and the cameraman broadcasting the live stream dropped down, his face bloody.
“As soon as they arrived at the junction where it all happened, the police, armed to the teeth, started shooting, it was an ambush scenario. It was just a march,” 27-year old protester Silvestre Alexandre told AFP.
“I saw some people bleeding from their wounds. My friend was wounded in the leg. I also saw a child who was shot and lost his life in hospital,” he said, visibly in shock.
Mondlane came second in the October presidential election with 24 percent of the vote, but claim he was cheated of victory.
He instigated months of demonstrations following the vote where various international observer missions noted many irregularities.
More than 320 people were killed in the violence that lasted until early January, according to Plataforma Decide.
Mondlane recently split with the opposition Podemos party, which had supported his presidential candidacy but on Wednesday signed an agreement with President Daniel Chapo to end the electoral turmoil.
Mondlane, who is popular with the youth, has been touring the country to promote his new party, the National Alliance for an Autonomous and Free Mozambique – nicknamed Anamalala, which means ‘it’s over’, one of the slogans of the protests in local Macau language.
Chapo, of the Frelimo party that has ruled the country since independence in 1975, announced on Tuesday the plan to sign a post-election deal.
“The political situation in Mozambique is good,” he said during a visit to neighbouring South Africa.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Source: AFP
Picture: Screengrab
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
