Police in Mozambique disperse opposition protest after disputed election
Al Jazeera
Police use tear gas, clash with opposition protesters as post-election tensions soar.
Riot police in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, fired tear gas to disperse a crowd protesting against alleged electoral fraud days after two opposition allies were shot dead.
Several hundred people, including journalists, scattered as heavily armed police marched down a main street on Monday. The Reuters news agency reported some police officers firing handguns while dispersing the crowd.
Adriano Nuvunga, director of Mozambique’s Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, said bullets hit two journalists and a security guard but not seriously wounded.
Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who ran for president in the October 9 election, had called for a general strike to contest early results showing the ruling Frelimo party ahead.
Shops in Maputo were closed, and helicopters were hovering above the city of around one million people.
