According to the police spokesman, 87 people were arrested during Saturday’s demonstrations against rising fuel prices, a halt to street vending and a proposal to amend the statutes of NGOs that brought thousands of Angolans onto the streets in Luanda and Benguela. , and must be tried summarily for crimes of insurrection and disobedience.
According to Jornal de Angola, citing the spokesman for the General Command of the National Police, Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues, 32 protesters were arrested in Luanda and 55 in Benguela as part of the protests.
Information from activist accounts for detainees in other places, such as Cabinda, Bié and Huambo. Lusa contacted the National Police for further clarification, but received no response.
As Mateus Rodrigues explained to Jornal de Angola, the organizers of the demonstration did not comply with legal requirements, violated the route and issued offenses against the officers.
In a statement released Sunday, the national police blamed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the main opposition party, for the disturbances, although this political force has not officially joined the protests and alleged attempts by the regime to blame the party for the incidents.
Mateus Rodrigues, according to Jornal de Angola, believed that the presence of the Secretary General of the Jura, Nelito Ekuikui, and the First Secretary of UNITA in the province, Adriano Sapiñala, both deputies, attributed a “political character” to the demonstration of that day. June 17.
On their social media, Sapiñala and Ekuikui criticized Angola’s Public Television for using the image of the two leaders, accusing UNITA of inciting disorder, citing “government sources”.
UNITA’s president, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, also spoke about the matter on his own Facebook page, pointing to “light allegations directed against UNITA and its president, without the right of dissent, in a gross manipulation of information content”.
“It is regrettable that police officers and journalists have to pay these freight charges,” the UNITA leader lamented.
The protests were suppressed in Luanda and Benguela, with police using tear gas and shooting at the demonstrators, resulting in an undetermined number of injuries, including seven members of the security forces, according to the National Police.
Authorities say there were no incidents in the other provinces.
Source: DN
