Maputo (EFE).- Police in Mozambique opened fire on a demonstration called by opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane in the capital, Maputo, on Wednesday.
“The shots were fired at a close range against the people following Venâncio Mondlane, killing two children and students and injuring 16 people,” including members of the opposition team, “and gravely affecting countless citizens with teargas,” Mondlane’s team said in a statement posted on Facebook. EFE was unable to verify these figures.
Hours earlier, the opposition leader posted a live video on his Facebook account showing hundreds of people following his caravan as he spoke from the vehicle.
The video was abruptly interrupted by shots fired by the security forces, also shown in other videos of the demonstration sent to EFE from witnesses.
In the videos, the opposition supporters are walking and dancing, and then the chaos starts because of the shots and the smoke from the gases.
According to the statement, the police were “disproportionately armed” and traveled in armored vehicles. Mondlane’s team also said it did not know the opposition leader’s whereabouts or his “health status,” after the shooting broke up the protest.
The demonstration took place as Daniel Chapo signed an agreement for an “inclusive national dialogue” between the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) and eight opposition forces, including the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), at the Joaquim Chissano Conference Center.
Podemos initially supported Mondlane’s candidacy for the Oct. 9, 2024, general elections. The opposition leader subsequently distanced himself from the formation and was not part of the deal agreements.
“For the first time in our recent history, the leaders of nine political formations with seats in the Assembly of the Republic (unicameral legislative body), provincial assemblies, and municipal assemblies have signed a commitment to an inclusive national dialogue in which they pledge to work together to build a more participatory, inclusive, transparent and accountable state,” Chapo said.
The leader of Podemos, Albino Forquilha, stressed that the pact “demonstrates the political will of all Mozambicans and places national and inclusive dialogue at the center of the national agenda so that together (…) best solutions can be found to restore political stability, peace, national reconciliation, and economic development.”
Mondlane was the main driver of the massive post-electoral protests that took place in the country between October 2024 and January 2025, when violent police repression using live ammunition and teargas left 353 people dead, according to the local NGO Decide Electoral Platform.
On Jan. 17, the opposition agreed to end the three-month protests if the government met several conditions, including an end to the violence against the population and a reduction in the price of the basic basket.
Since then, there have been some intermittent and reduced demonstrations.
According to the results announced by Mozambique’s Constitutional Council and rejected by the opposition, Chapo won 65.17% of the vote in the Oct. 9 elections, compared to 24.19% for Mondlane, who declared himself “the president elected by the Mozambican people.”
The results put FRELIMO, who has held the presidency since independence from Portugal in 1975, in power. EFE
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