More than 1,500 inmates have escaped from a prison in Mozambique, taking advantage of ongoing political unrest caused by disputed election results, police say.
Thirty-three people were killed and 15 wounded in clashes with guards, police chief Bernardino Rafael said at a press conference.
About 150 more refugees have been caught since then, he said.
Protests began on Monday in response to Mozambique's highest court confirming that the ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since 1975, had won the October presidential elections.
Mr. Rafael said that groups of anti-government protesters had come to the prison in the capital Maputo on Wednesday. Prisoners used the riot to knock down a wall and escape, he said.
Mozambique has been in turmoil since disputed elections in October. Official results showed the winner of the ruling was the presidential candidate of Frelimo, Daniel Chapo.
New protests erupted on Monday, when the constitutional court ruled that Chapo had won the election, and revised his margin of victory downward.
The first results in October said that Daniel Chapo received a share of 71% of the vote to his main rival Venâncio Mondlane's 20%. The court has now decided that he won 65% to 24% at Mondlane.
A BBC reporter found Maputo was like a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with almost all businesses closed and people staying at home to avoid being caught up in the worst unrest in the city since Frelimo first came to power in 1975.
Frelimo offices, police stations, banks and factories have been looted, vandalized and set on fire across the country. Since Monday, at least 21 people have been killed in the unrest, the interior minister said late Tuesday.
Mondlane, who has since fled Mozambique, has been calling on his supporters to demonstrate against what he described as a rigged vote.
In a weekend social media message, he said there could be a “new popular uprising” if the result was not reversed.
About 150 people have been killed in three months of protests since the elections.
