After the approval on Monday of the contested elections in October, new protests have taken place.
At least 21 people have been killed in riots since Mozambique's top court ruled in favor of the ruling Frelimo party. conflicting decisionssaid the minister of the interior.
The dead include at least two police officers, Interior Minister Pascoal Ronda said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“236 serious attacks were reported” since Monday across the Portuguese-speaking African nation, with at least 25 people injured, including 13 police officers, he said.
The protests started after Frelimo it has been confirmed the winner is the Constitutional Council. Protesters and opposition groups say the October 9 vote was rigged.
Seventy-eight people have been arrested so far and security measures have been tightened across the country, Ronda told TVM radio. “The military will increase their presence in critical and critical areas,” he said.
Frelimo has been repeatedly accused by critics and election officials of vote rigging. It has denied the allegations.
As soon as the Supreme Court announced that Daniel Chapo had won the presidential election, supporters of the opposition party, Venancio Mondlane, started protesting on Monday night.
Protesters have been accused of attacking and vandalizing police stations, gas stations, banks and other government facilities.
Speaking in Maputo, Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa said the protests burned tires and blocked roads.
“This was their way of shutting down Mozambique,” he said. “People say they are tired of corruption and unemployment for many years.”
Mutasa said some boys ask drivers for money to drive to other places. “Although the protests started because of the results of the election, it seems that there are other factors that have come to try to intervene,” he said.
Mozambique has been rocked by violent protests since late October when election officials announced that 47-year-old Chapo had won the presidential election.
More than 130 people have been killed since October 21, according to human rights groups and human rights groups who have also criticized Mozambique's security forces for using excessive force to quell the protests.
After Monday's announcement by the Constitutional Council, Mondlane asked his supporters on social media to prepare for “difficult days ahead”.
“History is made of thorny, rocky times, but the truth is that success is guaranteed for all of us,” Mondlane wrote on Facebook.