Hundreds flee Maputo prison amid election protests

More than 1,500 prisoners have escaped from a prison in Mozambique, taking advantage of the current political unrest triggered by controversial election results, police say.

Thirty-three people were killed and 15 injured in clashes with guards, police chief Bernardino Rafael said at a news conference.

About 150 more fugitives have since been recaptured, he added.

The protests erupted on Monday in response to Mozambique’s highest court confirming this week that the ruling Frelimo party, in power since 1975, had won October’s presidential election.

Rafael said groups of anti-government protesters had approached the prison in the capital, Maputo, on Wednesday. The prisoners took advantage of the unrest to break down a wall and escape, he said.

Mozambique has been rocked by unrest since disputed elections in October. Official results showed that ruling Frelimo’s presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, won.

New protests broke out on Monday, when the Constitutional Court ruled that El Chapo had won the election, although it revised his margin of victory downward.

Initial results in October indicated that Daniel Chapo obtained a 71% share of the vote compared to 20% for his main rival, Venâncio Mondlane. The court has now ruled that he won 65% to Mondlane’s 24%.

TO BBC reporter found Maputo was like a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with almost all businesses closed and people staying home to avoid being caught up in the worst unrest in the city since Frelimo first came to power in 1975.

Frelimo offices, police stations, banks and factories have been looted, vandalized and burned across the country. Since Monday, at least 21 people have died in the unrest, the interior minister said late Tuesday.

Mondlane, who has since fled Mozambique, had been calling on his followers to demonstrate against what he said was a rigged vote.

In a weekend message on social media, he said there could be a “new popular uprising” if the result is not overturned.

Some 150 people have died in the three months of protests since the election.