The centre of Maputo descended into chaos on Wednesday morning, with dozens of protesters stoning police vehicles, and several streets almost completely blocked, after a young woman was run over by an armoured vehicle while protesting in the centre of Eduardo Mondlane Avenue.
Traffic on several central avenues of Maputo is completely blocked by protesters, who are preventing movement in new protests called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane against the conduct of the Mozambican general elections of 9 October, while police are responding with teargas volleys.
Tires are burning at the site where the young woman was run over at around 9:30 a.m. by an armoured vehicle traveling at high speed, triggering an angry reaction by the protesters, who until then had only been blocking traffic.
The young woman was taken to hospital in a serious condition. It is not clear whether the vehicle driver saw her across the barricade he was negotiating.
When any police vehicle, including armoured vehicles, passes by on Eduardo Mondlane and Guerra Popular avenues in the centre of the Mozambican capital, protesters respond by throwing stones and sticks.
At around 11:00 a.m., the authorities fired live ammunition, and were surrounded by dozens of people.
🚨 Uma viatura das FDS atropelou uma manifestante na avenida Eduardo Mondlane, zona do Ponto Final, cidade de #Maputo. O atropelo parece ter sido intencional e a viatura não parou para socorrer a vítima. Os manifestantes zangados atacaram uma viatura da polícia UIR. #Moçambique pic.twitter.com/wyYTJkkhK4
— Alexandre Nhampossa (@AllexandreMZ) November 27, 2024
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has called on the Mozambican population to leave their cars on the streets with signs protesting the election for three days, starting at 8:00 a.m. today.
At least 67 people have died and another 210 have been shot since October 21 in protests challenging the results of the general elections in Mozambique, according to an update released on Saturday by the Mozambican monitoring NGO Plataforma Eleitoral Decide.
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane initially called for demonstrations, which have degenerated into clashes with the police – who have resorted to firing tear gas and gunfire to disperse the protests – as a way of contesting the awarding of victory by the National Elections Commission (CNE) to Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo with 70.67% of the vote, a result yet to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
Source: Lusa