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Mozambican police Monday deployed across poor neighbourhoods in the capital Maputo to prevent fresh protests over food prices, as the death toll from three days of rioting last week rose to 13.
Over the weekend, text messages circulated through the city urging Mozambicans to return to the streets on Monday, prompting police to fan out through Maputo as businesses cautiously opened their doors.
Police patrolled the city centre, while trucks transported officers to outlying areas that saw some of the worst violence last week, when police fired rubber bullets and live ammunition to break up crowds who looted shops and blocked major roads with burning tyres.
Three more people died as a result of the rioting, health minister Ivo Garrido told a news conference Monday. "I am sorry to say that the number of deaths rose from 10 to 13. On Friday, two more lifeless bodies were taken to a Maputo hospital. One patient died last night in Maputo central hospital," he said.
No protests were reported in Maputo on Monday.
The rioting erupted last Wednesday in Maputo and spread to several towns in central parts of the country, resulting is deadly clashes with the police with 159 people arrested and more than 400 injured. The demonstrations were sparked by text messages calling on the public to protest a new increase in bread prices.
