Deadly riots in Mozambique over rising prices

Protesters blocked Maputo's roads with burning tyres

Six people are reported to have been killed during riots in and around Mozambique's capital Maputo over rising food and fuel prices.

Police confirmed the death of two children and said there had been "widespread disorder" in the city, according to Reuters news agency.

Rioters threw stones at officers and blocked roads. Police reportedly responded by firing on demonstrators.

The authorities had earlier warned that protests would not be tolerated.

The demonstrations are against recent rises in the cost of essential foods, fuel and cement.

'Outraged'
Mozambique's private S-TV television station and Portugal's Lusa news agency said that six people were killed in Wednesday's riots across the capital and the suburbs.

Lusa also quoted hospital sources as saying that 11 people had been injured.

But the police confirmed only two deaths.
"We have a number of injured people. Two children have been killed in the suburb of Mafalala. There is a widespread disorder and confusion across the city," police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo told Reuters.

Mr Chefo said that live bullets had been used because in areas the police ran out of rubber bullets.

One of the victims was a 12-year-old boy, who died after being shot in the head, the AFP agency reports.

Rioters clashed with the police after banks and businesses were looted by vandals, according to police sources.

Shops remain closed and public transport came to a halt following the clashes.

"I can hardly feed myself - I'm outraged by this high cost of living," Maputo resident Nelfa Temoteo told Reuters news agency.

Mozambican Interior Minister Jose Pacheco later appealed for calm.

Armoured personnel carriers are now patrolling the capital's streets, the BBC's southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen reports.

Mozambicans have seen the price of a loaf of bread rise by as much as 30% as the value of the national currency, the metical, has fallen against the South African rand. The increase also comes as wheat prices have shot up around the world.

Fuel and water prices have also risen in Mozambique.

In 2008, clashes between police and rioters over rising prices left at least four people dead and more than 100 injured.

The riots then forced the government in Maputo to cancel plans to increase fuel prices.