CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Thousands protest The capital of Mozambique Thursday and security forces responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets, as post-election unrest continues for weeks in this southern African country.

The protests were sparked by a vote last month who will keep the ruling party in power for more than half a century amid allegations of rigging.

Opposition parties and many citizens rejected the results of the presidential election of October 9 as well as fraudulent and growing protests in the capital, Maputo, and other cities were confronted with deadly force of the police. Thursday’s demonstration was the largest ever.

International rights groups say at least 20 people have been killed by police since the unrest began nearly a month ago, while local groups say the toll rises to more than 50 dead. Authorities threaten to deploy the army as protesters set fire to the streets and burn down ruling party offices.

The internet is restricted and social media sites have been blocked, according to Human Rights Watch. Neighboring South Africa has closed its border post with Mozambique and increased security around it.

What happened during the elections?

The candidate for Mozambique Liberation Front in powerDaniel Chapo was declared the winner of the October 24 presidential election. party that has governed Mozambique since independence of Portugal in 1975 in power for another five years.

Even before the results were announced, opposition parties denounced fraud, accusing the ruling party, known as Frelimo, of stuffing ballots, manipulating electoral lists and staffing polling stations. of officials who are loyal to him. Frelimo has long been accused of rigging elections in this country of around 34 million people.

The European Union observer team said there were irregularities in the election, including the alteration of some results. Mozambican media reported that the Constitutional Council, the highest body responsible for electoral law, asked the commission that organized the elections to explain the discrepancies.

Senior opposition leaders killed

Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, second behind Chapo in the official results, criticized the vote. He called for a national strike and for citizens to stay home in the days following the elections to protest the alleged tampering. But the mood changed when two senior opposition figures were killed in their car during a nighttime shooting by unidentified gunmen on October 18.

The men who were killed were Mondlane’s lawyer and the official spokesperson for the political party that supported Mondlane in the election. Mondlane said they had been murdered and that he and opposition supporters gathered near the site of the killings the next day to protest. Police fired tear gas canisters in Mondlane, his collaborators and the journalists who interviewed him, forcing them to flee.

Growing protests

Since then, waves of protests have taken place across the country. In one town, protesters toppled and cut off the head of a statue of current President Filipe Nyusi, who is resigning after serving a maximum of two terms.

Mondlane said on social media that he went into exile fearing for his life after the murder of his lawyer. His whereabouts are unknown, but he called on social media for more protests “so that we can then be freed from these chains that have held us back for 50 years.”

The authorities said nothing except that the protests were violent and needed to be suppressed. They did not provide information on the number of people killed or injured during the protests.

Rights groups accused police of shooting at peaceful protests in the days after the election and said children were among the victims. Anger among opposition supporters skyrocketed. The presidential palace is under close surveillance.

A story of civil war and violence

Mozambique is still in the shadow of a bloody 15-year civil war that left-wing Frelimo waged against rebel group Renamo after independence. The country only held its first elections in 1994 and it was the first poll without an armed group linked to a political party after a process of disarming the militias.

The country, which has rich natural resources, including recently discovered vast deposits of natural gas, has been already grappling with a years-long insurgency by an Islamic State-affiliated group in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Mondlane, who split from Renamo, enjoys the support of Mozambique’s disaffected youth and he and the new Podesa party that supports him have become the biggest challenge to Frelimo’s long rule.

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