Mozambique security forces killed at least 10 children and injured dozens of others while trying to suppress weeks of protests following a disputed presidential election, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
Security forces detained hundreds of other minors, some of them for days in violation of international law, since election results were announced a month ago, the rights group said.
The southern African country has been beset by unrest after the ruling party’s candidate was declared the winner of the Oct. 9 election despite the opposition’s claims of fraud and international observers’ criticism of the vote, including a team from the European Union.
Mozambican authorities have not given out details on how many people have been killed or detained in the protests, but said some of the demonstrations turned violent and had to be quelled by security forces.
Daniel Chapo was announced the election winner on Oct. 24, extending the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique party’s unbroken half-century rule since independence from Portugal in 1975. Chapo is set to succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served the maximum two terms.
The leftist party, known as Frelimo, has often been accused of rigging elections to remain in power. There were violent protests after last year’s local elections, but these demonstrations have been the biggest challenge to Frelimo’s long rule.
The protests spilled into the streets in the capital, Maputo, and other major cities after two senior opposition figures were killed by unknown gunmen in a late-night shooting on Oct. 18 that their party called a political assassination.
Since then, thousands have responded to regular calls for protests on social media from independent presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, who lost to Chapo. Mondlane has left the country over fears for his safety, he said, after his lawyer was one of the two opposition members killed when the car they were in was ambushed and riddled with bullets on a street in Maputo. No arrests have been made in those killings.
International rights groups say at least 30 people have been killed by security forces firing live bullets at protesters, while Mozambican groups say the death toll is around 50. The Mozambique Bar Association said earlier this month that it had secured the release of more than 2,700 people who had been detained by security forces, many of them teenagers.
The protests have forced schools and businesses to close and led many Mozambicans to stay home. The army has been deployed to keep order.