MAPUTO - Angry protesters burned tyres on the streets of Mozambique's capital and a TV station said at least one person was killed yesterday, a day after at least four people died in clashes between police and rioters.
Mozambique's S-TV said a young man drowned after he ran from police and stumbled into a small pond in Maputo, the capital.
Police did not immediately confirm the death.
Protesters, most of them young men, had rioted on Wednesday over the rising cost of food, fuel and water. They threw stones and looted shops. Cellphone messages early yesterday called for continued protests.
Protesters appeared to avoid confrontations with police and soldiers, who were on the streets in large numbers. Those gathered would scatter when police and soldiers came near, only to regroup when the patrols passed. Sporadic gunfire could be heard as police fired into the air.
Most people stayed in their homes, out of fear of renewed violence and because, with debris from the rioting making roads impassable, buses and taxi vans were not running.
Augusto Gonas, a protester, said yesterday a call for calm from President Armando Guebuza the night before "offended us. What we need to hear is the order to lower prices".
In elections late last year, Guebuza won three-quarters of the presidential vote, as did his party in races for parliament's 250 seats.
Pedro Cossa, a spokesman for the police ministry, told Associated Press yesterday two of his officers were beaten by mobs the day before. He said the death toll was four, including two protesters shot by police, and 26 people were injured.
Mozambique state TV, citing hospital reports, said seven people were killed, including two children caught in the violence as they went home from school.
Mozambican police had declared Wednesday's marches illegal, saying no group sought permission for them.
In an address on state radio and television late on Wednesday, Guebuza said his government would try to meet demands to bring down prices, but that would not be easy. He said Mozambique produced only 30 percent of the wheat it needed, and imported the rest.
Mozambicans have seen the price of a loaf of bread rise by 25 percent in the past year. Fuel and water costs also rose. In 2008, after a week of clashes between police and rioters that killed at least four people and injured more than 100, government cut fuel prices.
Rising prices around the world have raised concerns about a return to the political instability of 2008 when Egypt, Haiti, Kenya and Somalia were among the countries that saw rioting over the cost of living.
The UN said on Wednesday international food prices had risen to their highest in two years, shooting up 5 percent between July and August.
Maputo burning
MAPUTO - Angry protesters burned tyres on the streets of Mozambique's capital and a TV station said at least one person was killed yesterday, a day after at least four people died in clashes between police and rioters.
Mozambique's S-TV said a young man drowned after he ran from police and stumbled into a small pond in Maputo, the capital.
Police did not immediately confirm the death.
Protesters, most of them young men, had rioted on Wednesday over the rising cost of food, fuel and water. They threw stones and looted shops. Cellphone messages early yesterday called for continued protests.
Protesters appeared to avoid confrontations with police and soldiers, who were on the streets in large numbers. Those gathered would scatter when police and soldiers came near, only to regroup when the patrols passed. Sporadic gunfire could be heard as police fired into the air.
Most people stayed in their homes, out of fear of renewed violence and because, with debris from the rioting making roads impassable, buses and taxi vans were not running.
Augusto Gonas, a protester, said yesterday a call for calm from President Armando Guebuza the night before "offended us. What we need to hear is the order to lower prices".
In elections late last year, Guebuza won three-quarters of the presidential vote, as did his party in races for parliament's 250 seats.
Pedro Cossa, a spokesman for the police ministry, told Associated Press yesterday two of his officers were beaten by mobs the day before. He said the death toll was four, including two protesters shot by police, and 26 people were injured.
Mozambique state TV, citing hospital reports, said seven people were killed, including two children caught in the violence as they went home from school.
Mozambican police had declared Wednesday's marches illegal, saying no group sought permission for them.
In an address on state radio and television late on Wednesday, Guebuza said his government would try to meet demands to bring down prices, but that would not be easy. He said Mozambique produced only 30 percent of the wheat it needed, and imported the rest.
Mozambicans have seen the price of a loaf of bread rise by 25 percent in the past year. Fuel and water costs also rose. In 2008, after a week of clashes between police and rioters that killed at least four people and injured more than 100, government cut fuel prices.
Rising prices around the world have raised concerns about a return to the political instability of 2008 when Egypt, Haiti, Kenya and Somalia were among the countries that saw rioting over the cost of living.
The UN said on Wednesday international food prices had risen to their highest in two years, shooting up 5 percent between July and August.
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