Maputo, Nov. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - The Mozambican police have said that "enough is enough" of the demonstrations and stoppages, after presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called for new protests this week, saying that they are "urban terrorism" with the intention of "altering the constitutional order".
"It is urgent to say enough is enough to the violent demonstrations that tend to sabotage major undertakings that the country conquered during independence and which are the hope of the next generation," declared the commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, at a press conference in Maputo.
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called on Monday for a new period of national demonstrations in Mozambique, for three days, starting on Wednesday, in all the provincial capitals, contesting the electoral process in which, according to the official results, he was defeated.
"We're going to demonstrate at the borders, in the ports and in the provincial capitals. 11 provincial capitals (...) We're going to paralyse all activities so that they realise that the people are tired," Venâncio Mondlane appealed, in a live broadcast on his official Facebook account, about the “fourth stage” of protest against the 9 October general election process, which, he said, will have “several phases” - to be announced later - and which, he said, is also against “kidnappings and abductions” and “against the murder of the people”.
Speaking to journalists, the PRM commander insisted that "no more violent demonstrations", noting that the previous seven-day protests culminated in 46 demonstrations that "seriously affected the economy", including vandalising commercial and state establishments and police stations.
"In no country in the world is a citizen allowed to say he wants to overthrow the government, no country in the world, even in the oldest democracy in Greece, doesn't have that. How can a citizen go so far as to threaten? How can that be allowed? It's either ignorance or an excess of emotion, or he doesn't understand social coexistence," Bernardino Rafael pointed out, accusing Venâncio Mondlane of calling the marches “subversive”.
"With the clear intention of changing Mozambique's democratically established constitutional order. This tendency to alter public order and security with a clear tendency to affect the Constitution constitutes a flagrant violation of the mother law that guides democratic social coexistence in our country," the commander accused.
In the same communication, Bernardino Rafael asked Mozambicans to go to their places of work on Wednesday, saying that the Mozambican police will ensure public safety and tranquillity.
"These demonstrations are no longer violent, but subversive, with clear tendencies towards urban terrorism, affecting key sectors of the economy when they declare they are attacking railway lines, borders, large supermarkets, interrupting corridors in our country," he pointed out, insisting that this is urban terrorism.
"Because there is a clear violation of the Constitution of the Republic, a total affront to what guides social coexistence and a serious change of order, there is an urgent need to say enough to the demonstrations," concluded the PRM commander, also calling for “peace and harmony” in the country.
Mondlane had previously called for stoppages on 21, 24 and 25 October, followed by another seven days, since 31 October, with national protests and a demonstration in Maputo on 7 November, which caused chaos in the capital, with several barricades, burning tyres and police firing shots and tear gas throughout the day.
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