Police use tear gas to disperse march in Maputo honoring rapper Azagaia – Africa

Mozambican police are using tear gas to disperse a march in Maputo in honor of social intervention rapper Azagaia, who died a week ago from an illness.

Hundreds of people began to gather in the early hours of the morning, but were prevented from marching in the Mozambican capital.

“The same people who authorize us” to march gave “superior orders” to the police to attack the participants, said Quitéria Guirrengane, one of the organizers.

From 08:00 (06:00 in Lisbon) a sequence repeats itself: participants join in singing songs by Azagaia and the armed police, with canine force and armour, fires tear gas at the groups, forcing them to flee.

Then they come together at another corner and the situation repeats itself.

The gas has been fired between passers-by and traffic in the city center – which sometimes remain under the gas -, in the vicinity of the statue of Eduardo Mondelane, on the avenue with the same name.

“Povo no Poder” and “Vampiros” are songs sung by the crowd, mostly young people, who criticize the power and governance of the country handed over to the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) since independence.

At 09:30 (07:30 in Lisbon) some of the groups started to cut the traffic and several policemen ran towards the groups wielding machine guns, leading to a greater dispersion.

However, several young people are still present in the nearby streets, with slogans and excited feelings against the police.

On Tuesday, Azagaia’s funeral in Maputo had brought together thousands of people, but the procession was blocked by armored vehicles and heavily armed police who fired tear gas at a point along the route that would pass in front of the official residence of the President of the Republic.

With a career spanning more than 20 years, the ‘rapper of the people’, as Azagai was known, became famous for his open criticism of governance in Mozambique and for giving voice to the problems of the population, to such an extent that in 2008 he was even questioned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. -General of the Republic (PGR).

The rhymes were not broadcast on public radio and television and Frelimo deputies, in power since independence, pointed him as an interpreter of the opposition.