A group of angry demonstrators, protesting against the high cost of living, stormed a district jail on Monday (03) and freed more than 200 inmates in the district of Gorongosa, in Sofala province, central Mozambique.

According to the administrator of Gorongosa, quoted by VOAThe protests were led by motorcycle taxi drivers and gold diggers and targeted stores selling basic necessities belonging to traders of Indian and Bangladeshi origin.

The group temporarily blocked National Road number 1 (N1), prevented the movement of people and goods and vandalized the mayor's residence and a grain store.

"Unfortunately, they started by breaking into the jail and around 200 inmates came out, these are people who were in prison to serve their sentences, which could then lead to an increase in the crime rate at district level," added Pedro Mussengue.

He believes that the protesters intended to loot goods from the stores, but their attempt was thwarted thanks to the intervention of the police authorities, who managed to control the situation.

The district is considered to be the breadbasket of agricultural production in Sofala province, but it is suffering from food insecurity.

Around 67,000 households are struggling with hunger, coupled with poor production in the last agricultural season, due to a combination of climatic factors, invasion of fields and destruction of crops by wild animals.

Mussengue reiterated that the release of the prisoners has sown a climate of fear and insecurity within the communities, since the local population still has fresh memories of the suffering they experienced with the political-military tension between 2014 and 2019, between the government and Renamo.

(Photo DR)