By Ricardo Dias
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – The journalist Strip Pedrito, shot last Saturday by the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the riot police), is recovering in South Africa, according to a source contacted by MOZTIMES.
Strip Pedrito was shot when he was covering the funeral of “Mano Shottas”, the young blogger killed by the police two days earlier when he was transmitting live footage of the UIR launching tear gas into a residence where there were children.
Strip Pedrito, 29, was in the company of colleagues when he was shot in the arm while trying to hide from the police bullets that Saturday.
When the colleagues were rescuing him, crossing the road in the direction of the hospital, the police shot dead a young man called “PUKU”.
Unable to go to the hospital because of the shootout, the youths were obliged to go to the border, and from there they took a taxi to Komatipoort.
The local police did not give them any documents because they were foreigners, but an ambulance in the area helped them after much resistance, with the Strip already greatly weakened.
“He’s there. I went to visit him, and he’s getting better, but he’s still weak because he lost a lot of blood”, a colleague from the “SPM TV” channel of Ressano Garcia told MOZTIMES.
On the Saturday when the journalist was shot, two other victims were shot dead. Violence against journalists has been a constant in election years in Mozambique.
A recent study by MISA shows that in 2023, the number of cases of aggression against journalists tripled in comparison with the previous year. (RD).
