Mozambique is experiencing the country’s worst crackdown on protests in years.
Mozambican authorities have launched a massive crackdown following disputed elections on October 9, 2024. Security forces have routinely tried to violently and unlawfully break up peaceful assemblies with tear gas, bullets and arbitrary arrests. The government has repeatedly cut internet access across the country and blocked social media sites.
Police have killed dozens of people so far, injured over one hundred and arbitrarily arrested or detained thousands, according to Mozambican civil society organizations. Last week, authorities deployed the military to stop the protests.
Mozambique’s authorities must immediately halt their escalating assault on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Attempts to crush peaceful dissent with force risk exacerbating an already dire human rights situation.
The last two weeks in Mozambique have been marked by completely unnecessary bloodshed as authorities have tried to stop a peaceful protest movement with deadly force. The number of casualties increases every day, with authorities deploying weapons of war, including rifles and armoured vehicles, on city streets. People cannot even protest in their own homes without risking tear gassing by police.
Khanyo Farise, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
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