The president of the Mozambican Medical Association (AMM), Napoleão Viola, said yesterday that there was a "clear-cut" possibility that the police force deployed to repel demonstrations in the country had fired with the intention of taking the lives of the demonstrators.

This is the "conclusion" of a technical reading by doctors after witnessing patients injured by firearms bullets and losing their lives in hospital units.

"According to the injuries, the places where the injuries were inflicted, you can clearly get an idea of what the intention was. Whether it was the intention solely to immobilize the citizen, or whether it was the clear intention to take the citizen's life. Most of the cases, we're talking about these ten cases, were injuries which, due to their position and the way they were produced, suggest that there was, in all likelihood, a clear intention to take the life, to take the life of these citizens," he said.

In the balance of events between October 18 and 26, when there were widespread strikes, the AMM and the Order of Doctors of Mozambique counted 73 firearm injuries and ten deaths, said the Order's president, Gilberto Manhiça.

According to the doctors, the figures are only for cases that have been admitted to hospital, so it's understandable that the situation could be more serious.

Manhiça was concerned about the situation and warned that the national health system could collapse.  

In this sense, "there is the idea of creating a support system, where we will have focal points throughout the country to guide victims and their families where to go and how to get their situation attended to".