Clashes in Mozambique as main opposition leader Mondlane returns from exile

After Venancio Mondlane returned from self-imposed exile, police shot live ammunition and tear gas at him to stop him from greeting him at the airport.

As protesters attempted to breach the main highway leading to the city’s Mavalane International Airport while pursuing them, police from the capital Maputo captured live images that Al Jazeera broadcast on Thursday. Some of the protesters threw rocks at the protesters.

Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from the site of the clashes in Maputo, said some of Mondlane’s supporters were injured in the clashes.

“Police have been pushing back at protesters, firing tear gas. We also heard live ammunition being used”, she said.

“The protesters are trying to reach the airport to greet Mondlane, and they can’t. So they are increasingly agitated. There has been a fighting between protesters and the police.

It was difficult to immediately calculate the number of injuries.

After leaving the airport building, Mondlane, who was met by a large crowd of journalists, claims Daniel Chapo, the candidate who is scheduled to take the oath of office on January 15, was rigged in favor of the ruling Frelimo party’s candidate.

After two senior members of his party were killed in their cars by unknown gunmen in the wake of the election, which also claimed the lives of dozens of other people, Mondlane went into hiding more than two months ago, in fear for his life.

Mondlane addressed reporters outside the airport, “I’m here to tell you that if you want to negotiate, I’m here.”

According to a local rights group’s tally, about 300 people have been killed in violent waves of violence, including protesters who were killed in a police crackdown.

According to authorities, police officers have also been killed, and there has also been theft and vandalism. A decision by Mozambique’s top court, the Constitutional Council, to validate the election results triggered more demonstrations.

After 50 years under the rule of Frelimo, there were concerns that Mondlane might be detained upon his return, including on charges relating to the weeks of protests by his supporters, many of whom were young Mozambicans desperate for change.

Frelimo, which has been in power since 1975’s end of the Portuguese colonial war, refutes accusations of electoral fraud by the opposition. This year’s election, according to Western observers, was not free and fair.

Al Jazeera’s Miller said the government is blaming Mondlane for “inciting” the unrest across the country in recent weeks.

They also stated that he should be responsible for the damages that occurred in Mozambique at that time. The question now is, how will the government now respond”?

Mondlane’s supporters say his return from a two-month exile gives people hope. “We young people are here fighting for our tomorrow”, said Fatima Pinto, 20, who trained as a general medical technician.