"They picked me up and threw me in the car, Mahindra"

The Mayor of Quelimane, in Zambezia province, Manual de Araújo, who is seeking to renew his mandate, was towed away and arrested in the early hours of this morning by eight officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique.

"I was detained for about an hour by the commander of the Rapid Intervention Unit who found me in the municipal field in the Primeiro de Maio neighborhood, known as the Benfica field. When he arrived, I was talking to a contingent of 12 PRM police officers. They wanted to know if they could move the ballot box before the respective minutes and edict. [Then] the UIR commander asked, 'Why are you talking to this one? Don't you have anything to do with this one? I stopped to listen. He came over and said: 'Tighten the siege! Eight UIR men with hoods over their faces came and surrounded me, squeezing me. One grabbed my left arm, another my right. They pushed me. They hit and elbowed me. And they took me to a car," said Manuel de Araújo, quoted by TV Sucesso.

The Renamo candidate was speaking a few moments after being released, while a police apparatus blocked the avenue leading to the police station, due to the large population awaiting his release.

At the time, Mano Mané, as he is known in his town, said that he questioned the commander about the need to take him to the police station in his car, and he suggested that he do it on foot.

"There's no need to use force. You say what you want of me," he continued. "Whether I go on foot or in your car, I'll go," he said.

He said that this attempt at dialogue failed and the UIR used force. "They grabbed me and threw me in the car, Mahindra. They squeezed me. They drove at high speed from the municipal field to here. When I arrived, they threw me in. I didn't fall because there is a God.

Some state entities went to the police station to find out what had happened and determined that there was no reason to hold him.

The Quelimane mayor promises to take legal action to investigate the situation that has put him in the position of "marginal".