At least 33 people died this Wednesday in clashes with security forces after the escape of 1,534 prisoners from a prison on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, caused by the post-election protests unleashed last Mondayaccording to the police.
The escape occurred in Matola, in the south of the country, in a maximum security prison, as indicated by the general commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, Bernardino Rafael, in a press conference in the capital.
“We recorded an escape of inmates from the central prison of the city of Matola, where 2,500 prisoners were interned. The circumstances of the escape were that around 1:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT) a group of subversive protesters approached to the establishment, making noise and demanding to be able to remove the prisoners who are serving their sentences there,” Rafael explained.
“This agitation from the outside caused disturbances inside the prison that caused the collapse of the wall that separates (…) another prison next door, and they took the opportunity to escape through the doors. There was a confrontation with colleagues who guarantee security but did not They managed to arrest the prisoners. 1,534 inmates escaped,” the officer said.
The commander revealed that “this direct confrontation with the inmates and protesters resulted in 33 deaths and 15 injuries” and that the search operations of the security forces “they managed to arrest 150 inmates”.
Rafael warned that in the next 48 hours “a sharp increase in crime is expected in the city of Maputo” and asked “all of society to unite to combat this deliberate way of increasing crime” in the country.
The police command also stated that, “only in the last 24 hours, protesters invaded the Manhiça prison (Maputo province) and released the prisoners”, although The number of inmates released was not specified..
Likewise, he added, “they tried to free the prisoners who are in the Mabalane prison (south)”, from where “29 convicted terrorists escaped (…), one of whom is highly dangerous.”
The opposition does not recognize the electoral result
The Constitutional Council of Mozambique, the highest judicial body for electoral and constitutional matters, confirmed this Monday the victory of Daniel Chapo, presidential candidate of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), in the elections held on October 9, although the opposition rejected the results.
The main opposition leader and presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, who has been calling for demonstrations since October 21demanded the “electoral truth” on Monday.
At least 56 people died in the African country during the violent protests that broke out between Monday and Tuesday after the announcement of the electoral results, according to the NGO Electoral Decide Platform.
The NGO published these data after the Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, indicated this Tuesday that “236 acts of serious violence were committed throughout the national territory with the result of 21 deaths”, including two police officersand 25 injured (13 civilians and 12 police) during the protests.
The Frelimo candidate obtained 65.17% of the votes, although these data differ from those released on October 24 by the National Elections Commission (CNE), which gave Chapo 70.67% of the votes.
The results allow Frelimo to stay in powerwho has led the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975.
The independent Mondlane, who has the support of the Popular Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS), was second with 24.19% of the vote, above the 20.32% that the CNE granted him.
Behind them were Ossufo Momade, of the historic and until now main force of the opposition Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), with 6.62%; and Lutero Simango, of the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), with 4.02%.
Voting irregularities
He Constitutional Court admitted irregularities in the votebut assured that “they did not substantially influence the transparency of the process.”
Since October 21, Mondlane has called for days of general strike and mobilizations against the CNE electoral results, which have been harshly repressed by the security forces.
Until this Monday, at least 131 people had died during the protests as a consequence of the police response, according to figures from the Mozambican organization Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD).
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