Mozambique: Four Police Dead in Clashes With Demonstrators

Ferhat Momade/AIM

Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane (file photo)

12 December 2024

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Maputo — At least four members of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR - the Mozambican riot police) died on Wednesday, during clashes with protesters during mass demonstrations in Chimbazo region, between the districts of Luabo and Mopeia, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia.

The tragedy, according to sources cited by the local "Rádio Chuabo', took place when the police officers started to shoot into a group of demonstrators who were marching peacefully as part of demonstrations called by the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane in order to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results of the elections held on 9 October.

In order to retaliate, members of the peasant militia known as the Naparamas resorted to traditional weapons, including spears, machetes and clubs.

The confrontation resulted in the death of four members of the UIR, and one police officer was kidnapped.

In addition to the fatalities, a group of protesters also burned down the offices of the ruling Frelimo party in the locality of Sangaraza. Two UIR vehicles were also set on fire.

The claim in the report is suspect, since it is hard to believe that men armed with spears and clubs can defeat the firearms of the UIR. In the past, during the war of destabilisation, when the Naparamas fought alongside the Mozambican armed forces against the Renamo rebels, they claimed magical powers that made them invulnerable to bullets.

This claim to invincibility was seriously damaged when the first Naparama leader died in a hail of Renamo bullets.

According to the "Decide' Electoral Platform, since the demonstrations began on 21 October, over 100 people have been shot dead by police and hundreds injured.