Rights leader blames government for violence

Condemning the Mozambican government’s rush to try opposition demonstrators involved in deadly clashes with police last week, the president of the country’s Human Rights League has blamed the authorities for much of the violence, Lusa reported.

Maria Alice Mabote said her organisation had already gathered “preliminary information” that in many of the nationwide protests on Thursday police had “fired on defenceless people to disperse” crowds, on occasion even before demonstrations had begun. “When a demonstration is illegal what should be done is to detain the organisers, not open fire on the people”, she said. The police “must also be held responsible for the deaths of innocents”, Mabote added, denouncing the fast-paced trials of arrested demonstrators, which contrasted with the normal snail-pace of Mozambican courts, even in “some grave cases”.

Renamo claims that about 400 of its members were arrested, including some lawmakers. Several have been sentenced to three-month prison sentences for “actions against the state” in northernmost Cabo Delgado, the scene of some the worst violence. Two Renamo lawmakers, Manuel Pereira and Rui de Sousa, were expected to go on trial Wednesday in central-coast Beira, Mozambique’s second city and an opposition stronghold. The nationwide demonstrations were called by Renamo and allied opposition parties to protest what they consider to have been “fraudulent” presidential and legislative elections last December.