Death toll in Mozambique due to ongoing protests against disputed presidential election and a prison break has climbed to 248, a monitoring group said Thursday.
Plataforma Decide, an election monitoring group in the southeast African country, said 248 people had lost their lives in the past 65 days since protests after the Oct. 9 presidential poll.
At least 33 people were killed on Wednesday when hundreds of inmates broke through the Maputo Central Prison in Matola, about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from the capital Maputo.
Police chief Bernardino Rafael said at least 1,534 prisoners had escaped the correctional facility.
The prison held 29 “highly dangerous” terrorists who were among those freed during the escape, raising “serious concerns,” he added.
A seemingly subversive protest outside the prison sparked unrest inside the jail, leading to the collapse of a wall and enabling their escape, despite a confrontation with prison guards, according to police.
The noisy protesters demanded the release of a number of prisoners, said Rafael.
The prison break came amid fresh protests following the Constitutional Council’s confirmation this week that Daniel Chapo of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) had won the election.
Mozambique has seen violent protests since late October, when the electoral authority declared 47-year-old Chapo the winner with 71% of the vote, defeating main opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who is in exile, and who received 20%.
Mondlane rejected the results, claiming widespread vote rigging and calling on his supporters to protest and has vowed to install himself as president on Jan. 15.
The months-long protests and recent attacks on gas stations by protesters have resulted in fuel shortages in Mozambique’s capital Maputo and the city of Matola.
There are reports of people from Mozambique fleeing to neighboring Malawi to seek refugee amid the violence.
(AA)
