By MAPUTO, Mozambique — Police in Mozambique fired tear gas at the country’s leading opposition politician, Venancio Mondlane, and his supporters as he spoke with reporters on Monday, forcing them to run for cover. The incident comes amid heightened tensions following a disputed election and the killing of two prominent opposition figures.
Venancio Mondlane, the main challenger to the decades-long ruling party in the October 9 presidential election, was speaking to journalists on a road in the capital, Maputo, near the spot where his lawyer and a senior opposition party official were shot and killed in their car by unidentified gunmen on Friday night.
Police officers fired tear gas in Mondlane’s direction, according to a video posted on his Facebook page. The video shows Mondlane, aides, supporters and journalists running as tear gas canisters land around them. One journalist was injured, according to local media.
Mondlane had previously called for a nationwide shutdown and urged people to stay away from work on Monday in protest at what he and other opposition parties have described as fraudulent election results. He and his supporters had planned to gather near the site of the killings to stage a protest.
A lone man crosses the empty streets of Maputo, Mozambique, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, during a nationwide shutdown protest following a disputed Oct. 9 election. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
The election is likely to see the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique party (Frelimo) extend its 49-year rule since the southern African country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
The final results are expected later this week, but official preliminary results show Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo with a comfortable lead over Venancio Mondlane, who ran as an independent but was supported by the new opposition party, Podesa. If Chapo wins, he would succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served the allowed two terms.
The killings of opposition figures have further heightened tensions following the election. Podesa said Mondlane’s lawyer and the party’s top spokesperson were chased down by gunmen in two vehicles who sprayed their car with bullets. The attack is widely seen in Mozambique as politically motivated. Mondlane’s lawyer, Elvino Dias, had been heavily involved in preparing a legal challenge to contest the election results before the supreme electoral body.
Daniel Chapo, presidential candidate of the ruling Frelimo party leaves with his wife, Gueta Chapo after casting their vote during the general elections at Inhambane, in southern Mozambique, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko.
The European Union, which sent a team of election observers, called for an immediate investigation into the killings “that will bring to justice those responsible for this outrageous crime.”
The killings were also condemned by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Frelimo has often been accused of rigging elections, which it has denied, while Mozambique’s security forces have been criticized for clamping down on dissent and breaking up peaceful protests with deadly force. Mondlane told reporters that police had tried to keep him at his house and prevent him from joining the protests on Monday.
“The whole of last night, police cars were at my doorstep,” he said. “I was trying to find other ways to leave the house without being noticed. I did. I won’t say how.”
Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, right, casts his vote in general elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
