Thousands took to the streets of Mozambique's capital Thursday, continuing weeks of post-election unrest as security forces responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The protests were ignited by the results of last month's presidential election, which critics say will extend the ruling party's grip on power for more than 50 years amid allegations of rigging.
Opposition groups and many citizens have denounced the Oct. 9 vote as fraudulent, and the growing protests in Maputo and other cities have been met with violent police repression.
Thursday's demonstration was the largest so far.
International rights organizations report at least 20 deaths at the hands of police since the unrest began nearly a month ago, with local groups citing a toll of more than 50. As protesters set fires and torched ruling party offices, authorities have threatened to deploy the military.
The internet has been restricted, and social media sites have been blocked, according to Human Rights Watch. Neighboring South Africa has shut its border post with Mozambique and heightened security around it.
Daniel Chapo, the candidate for the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), was declared the winner of the presidential election on Oct. 24. This keeps the party, which has governed Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975, in power for another five years.
Even before the results were announced, opposition parties claimed fraud, accusing the ruling party of ballot stuffing, manipulating voter lists, and staffing polling stations with officials loyal to it. Frelimo has long been accused of rigging elections in the country of around 34 million people.
The European Union's observer team said there were irregularities in the election, including the alteration of some results. Mozambican media has reported that the Constitutional Council, the highest body for election law, has asked the commission that ran the election to explain discrepancies.
Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, who finished second behind Chapo in the official results, has led criticism of the vote. He called for a national strike and for people to stay at home in protest of the alleged tampering. However, the mood shifted after two senior opposition figures were killed in a late-night shooting by unidentified gunmen on Oct. 18.
The victims were Mondlane's lawyer and the official spokesperson for the political party that supported Mondlane in the election. Mondlane called their deaths assassinations, and he and opposition supporters gathered near the site of the killings the next day to protest. Police fired tear gas canisters at Mondlane, his aides, and journalists who were interviewing him, forcing them to flee.
Since then, there have been waves of protests across the country. In one city, protesters toppled and decapitated a statue of current President Filipe Nyusi, who is stepping down after serving a maximum of two terms.
Mondlane said on social media that he had gone into exile in fear for his life after the killing of his lawyer. His whereabouts are unknown, but he has called for more protests on social media "so that we can then be freed from these shackles that have held us up for 50 years."
Authorities have said little other than that the protests have been violent and needed to be quelled. They have not provided information on the number of people killed or injured in the protests.
Rights groups have accused the police of shooting at peaceful protesters in the days following the election and said children were among the victims. Anger among opposition supporters has swelled, and the presidential palace is under heavy guard.
Mozambique is still recovering from a bloody 15-year civil war fought between the leftist Frelimo and the rebel group Renamo after independence. The country held its first elections in 1994, and this was the first vote without armed groups connected to political parties following a disarmament process.
Mozambique, which has rich natural resources, including newly discovered natural gas fields, has also been struggling with a yearslong insurgency by an Islamic State-affiliated group in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Mondlane, who broke away from Renamo, has support among Mozambique's disaffected youth, and he, along with the new Podesa party backing him, has become the biggest challenge to Frelimo's long rule.
