Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Traffic ground to a halt in many Maputo neighbourhoods on Tuesday morning as rioting broke out against the increase in fares charged by the private minibus operators who provide much of the Mozambican capital's passenger transport.

Last week, the Transport Ministry and the Federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO)agreed fare increases of up to 50 per cent for the minibuses (colloquially known as "chapas". In Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola the fare for a journey of up to five kilometres rose from five to 7.5 meticais. The flat fare for longer journeys rose from 7.5 to 10 meticias (at current exchange rates there are about 24 meticais to the US dollar).

The main reason given for these increases was the latest rise in the price of fuel. Due to the surge in crude oil prices, the Ministry of Energy on 23 January decreed a 14 per cent increase in the price of diesel and an 8.1 per cent increase in the price of petrol.

The fare rises were to take effect on Tuesday - but crowds came onto the streets shouting "Five meticais! Five meticais!", and physically prevented minibuses from operating.

Barricades were improvised, out of lumps of concrete or burning tyres, on several of Maputo's main thoroughfares. Enormous clouds of smoke billowed from the burning tyres that blocked Lurdes Mutola avenue in the neighbourhood of Malhazine.

The demonstrators even stopped vehicles belonging to the public bus company, TPM, from circulating, even though the TPM flat fare has only risen from 4.5 to five meticais. In the suburb of Magoanine, AIM reporters watched as protestors stopped a TPM bus, and obliged all its passengers to leave the vehicle and join them.

Schoolchildren took an active part in the protests. Pupils from the Laulane Secondary School told AIM "some of our colleagues are studying, but we prefer to be here to show that the increased cost of transport is a problem that affects everybody".

In some areas, demonstrators turned against journalists. Stones shattered the windows of a vehicle belonging to the television station, STV, and one of the STV reporters was injured.

Riot police intervened, firing rubber bullets into the crowds in an attempt to bring the situation under control. Despite the police presence, most chapa owners gave up any attempt to take their vehicles onto the streets.

Thousands of workers found themselves unable to reach their workplaces, while pupils who live a long distance from their schools found it impossible to reach classes. Some people resigned themselves to walking to work or school.

Reports reaching the AIM newsroom, not yet confirmed, spoke of several people injured in the demonstrations and at least one death. A police car was reportedly burnt in Zona Verde, in Matola.

But Matola was much quieter than Maputo, probably because Tuesday is a public holiday in Matola, marking the 36th anniversary of its elevation to the status of a city.