MATOLA, Mozambique: Large numbers of mourners gathered in Mozambique yesterday to bury a taxi driver who died in police custody in South Africa after officers cuffed him to their van and dragged him through the streets.
Crowds gathered at a cemetery in Matola, a city next to the capital Maputo, where Mido Macia was laid to rest under a sprawling Jacaranda tree.
Family and friends of the 26-year-old taxi driver traveled from neighboring South Africa overnight to pay their final respects. “We are revolted, not just angry. It was torture what happened to him,” a friend of Macia, Xinguinhane Vuma told AFP.
On February 26 Macia was filmed by bystanders being manhandled, handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged hundreds of meters in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg.
He was found dead in his cell two hours later, having suffered severe head and internal injuries.
“Our feeling is very deep. We hope he rests in peace,” Vuma said at the graveside.
The footage spread quickly online and sent shock waves across the world, shining a spotlight yet again on the conduct of South Africa’s much maligned police force.
Nine South African police officers have been charged with his murder, but denied the charges in a bail hearing on Friday.
Macia’s coffin arrived in Mozambique during the night, and mourners could view his body before the funeral at a school nearby.
Friends described him as a humble man and spoke of the profound shock his death has caused in the community of Matola Rio where his father is a local leader.
Around 2,000 people attended the funeral, among them several government officials and Mozambican liberation hero and elder statesman Marcelino dos Santos — signaling how much the brutal crime has shaken the country.
Before the funeral, the NGO Human Rights League marched to the South African High Commission in central Maputo.
“Down with xenophobia,” chanted the crowd of around 80 people, brandishing banners with the words “Stop Humiliating Mozambicans” and “Mido Macia forever.”
South Africa sent Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to Maputo on Thursday to meet with Mozambique President Armando Guebuza and soften the diplomatic embarrassment over the incident.
Ordinary South Africans who traveled especially for the funeral said the killing showed their country had not yet dealt with its violent past under white minority rule and intense distrust of migrants.
Police dragging victim buried in Mozambique
Police dragging victim buried in Mozambique
Europol warns Iran crisis raises threat of terror, extremism and cyberattacks
- Oorth said groups linked to Iran could seek to carry out “destabilising activities” within the EU
- “The level of terrorist threat and violent extremism in EU territory is considered high“
MADRID: The Middle East conflict will have “immediate repercussions” for European Union security with an increased threat of terrorism, serious and organized crime as well as violent extremism and cyberattacks, European police body Europol told Spanish news agency EFE on Thursday.
Europol spokesman Jan Op Gen Oorth said he expected to see more cyberattacks against European infrastructure and an increase in online fraud using increasingly sophisticated Artificial Intelligence and exploiting the flurry of information swirling about the conflict online, EFE reported.
Groups linked to Iran could seek to carry out “destabilising activities” within the EU, he added, referring to groups linked to the so-called Axis of Resistance, the network of anti-American and Israeli Shiite militias in countries including Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. These could include terrorist attacks, intimidation campaigns, terrorist financing and cybercrime.
“The level of terrorist threat and violent extremism in EU territory is considered high,” he told the news agency.
The terror threat could be heightened by individuals acting alone or small cells acting on their own initiative, he said.
“The rapid spread of polarizing content on the Internet can accelerate short-term radicalization processes among diaspora communities within the EU and other individuals,” he said.
Europol did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment on the reported statements.
Iran and Israel on Thursday were exchanging fire on a sixth day of war after Israel and the United States launched joint air strikes on Iran on the weekend. So far the attacks have killed more than 1,000 people including Iran’s Supreme Leader, prompted Iran to attack neighbors including Qatar and UAE along with energy shipments.
