POLICE ADMIT FOUR DEATHS IN MANDIMBA

The Mozambican police on Tuesday admitted that four people died on Monday morning, when police opened fire on rioters in the town of Mandimba, in the northern province of Niassa.

According to the spokesperson for the General Command of the police, Inacio Dina, speaking at his weekly press briefing in Maputo, the police did not intend to kill the rioters, but were obliged to open fire to prevent them from attacking the district police command and seizing the firearms stored there. 

His statements contradict those of the Niassa Provincial Police command, which initially claimed that no-one had died.In addition to the deaths, seven of the demonstrators were injured, four of them seriously. The angry crowd set fire to the house of the district police commander, and in the clashes two police cars, seven motor-cycles and 12 bicycles were destroyed.

Dina said the police were faced with a crowd armed with stones, knives and similar weapons. He described the shots that killed the four demonstrators as “stray bullets”.

The demonstration was “illegal”, Dina added. The crowd had marched to the district police command to demand an explanation for the murder, the previous day, of a man who made his living out of informal currency trading. His family claimed that the police were involved in the murder.Dina claimed that the police are already working to solve this murder. He said there had been lengthy attempts to persuade the crowd not to embark on violent action, but to no avail. He called on citizens to respect the police authorities and the other bodies of the administration of justice, since “it is these bodies who guarantee the day-to-day safety of the public”.Dina announced that two senior officers from the General Command have gone to Mandimba to analyse the circumstances of the riot. He added that the situation in the town has now returned to normal.