At least 6,000 prisoners have escaped from a maximum prison in Mozambique as widespread post-election riots and violence continue to engulf the country, officials said Wednesday.
Thirty-three of them are said to have died during confrontations with the police and the military.
Mozambican police chief Bernardino Rafael said 6,000 inmates broke out of a maximum security prison in the capital Maputo after a rebellion on Wednesday on the side lines of violent protests that have seen police cars, stations and general public infrastructure destroyed after the country’s Constitutional Council confirmed the ruling Frelimo party as winner of the Oct.9 elections.
There have also been reports of widespread looting of shops.
Police say that prisoners at the facility snatched weapons from prison warders and started freeing other detainees.
“A curious fact is that in that prison we had 29 convicted terrorists, who they released. We are worried, as a country, as Mozambicans, as members of the defence and security forces,” said Rafael.
According to the police chief, the escape from the Maputo Central Prison, located 14 kms (nearly nine miles) southwest of the capital, took place around from around midday after “agitation” of a “group of subversive protesters” nearby.
“They (protesters) were making noise demanding that they be able to remove the prisoners who are there serving their sentences”, said Rafael, adding that the protests had led to the collapse of a wall, allowing the prisoners to escape.
“This confrontation resulted [in] 33 deaths, in direct confrontation with the prisoners. Fifteen were injured”, said Rafael as he called for the voluntary surrender of the escaping prisoners and for the population to be informed about the fugitives.
Videos circulating on social media show the moment prisoners escape from jail, while other recordings reveal captures made by military personnel and prison guards. Many prisoners tried to hide in homes to escape, but some were unsuccessful and ended up being detained.
One prisoner still with handcuffs on his right wrist says, in an amateur video, that he was in the disciplinary section of the maximum prison and was released by other prisoners.