People set fire to Frelimo district headquarters in southern Mozambique

MAPUTO,  Mozambique 

Protesters in districts in southern Mozambique have since Monday blocked roads and set fire to the headquarters of Frelimo, the ruling party, in the district of Chókwè, different sources said yesterday.

The unrest began around 9:00 a.m. on Monday, in protest, above all, at the high cost of living, a resident of Chókwè in Gaza province told Lusa. 

According to the source, the locals set fire to the guardhouse at the facilities of the Water Supply Investment Fund (Fipag), the institution that manages the water supply systems, vandalized the District Education Services and a bakery, and erected barricades on National Road No. 1 (EN1), the country's main highway.

Another resident of the same district told our reporter that the riots continued on Tuesday, with the vandalisation of vehicles belonging to an alleged supporter of former presidential candidate

Venâncio Mondlane, the leader of the challenge to the election results that the country has been facing since October last year.

The incident led authorities to open fire in an attempt to dispel the protesters, the source said, and around 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, protesters in Chókwé burned down the district headquarters of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) and returned to vandalize and burn the offices of Fipag.

"They vandalized everything, ruined everything and burned all the papers that were in the offices," the source said.

Frelimo's Secretary for Mobilization of Social Organizations, Communication and Image in Gaza, José Mabuta, confirmed the partial destruction of the party's district headquarters.

"On Tuesday morning, a group of people went to the party headquarters where they threw stones, broke windows, broke down the door and burned some papers that they found inside the premises. 

"They tried to set fire to the headquarters but were unsuccessful," Mabuta said.

In Inhambane, another southern province, Frelimo mobilization secretary Essau Maela said that demonstrations began on Tuesday, with some roads being blocked and stores being vandalized and looted in protest at the high cost of living.

"The protesters are currently in the town of Homoine," said Essau Maela.