PRA-JA Serving Angola called a press conference for this Monday to denounce the ban on the public protest they intended to hold to speak about the municipalities, having injured 17 people.
According to Xavier Jaime, deputy coordinator of PRA-JA Servir Angola, the procedures were followed, namely notifying the administrative commission of the city of Luanda and the provincial command of the police of Luanda, without having received "no note to prohibit" which would be against the Angolan Constitution.
"Can't people walk down the street now? The police come with tear gas and shoot people like that?" - he questioned, saying that one of the grenades was directed at Abel Chivukuvuku, coordinator and founder of PRA-JA Servir Angola.
Xavier Jaime argued that the police superintendent who commanded the operation said that "it does not comply with the Constitution, but it complies with superior orders" and underlined that the objective was to interact with people, considering that there is "an attempt to make municipalities forget".
Asked whether the reasons for the impediment were related to the fact that PRA-JA Serving Angola was considered illegal, after the Constitutional Court rejected its formalization as a party, he said that it is "a political project" that continues to fight for recognition legal, so it is not an illegal organization.
"It doesn't seem like that, can't a group of people dream of structuring themselves, of organizing themselves? Does this act constitute a crime? If that were the case, the competent authorities had to notify, they had to say "don't do this because you are illegal", he added.
On the same day, a demonstration that called for the release of activists considered "political prisoners" was repressed by the police, who arrested some of the participants, which led the leader to say that the dream of seeing Angola as a "State that minimally respect the canons of democracy".
"We have to define a line, that alone will allow democracy not to die, because this trend exists. We have (a democracy) a façade", he criticized, regretting that citizens' basic rights are being "restricted".
"Are we going to be calm about this? Something will have to be done and we will do our part", he guaranteed.
Américo Chivukuvuku, deputy elected by the UNITA lists, reinforced the criticism, questioning the police's legal basis for denying the right to carry out the activity.
"Our question is: where is the President who appeared as a reformer, who said that the era of superior orders is over? We continue to live in the era of superior orders. That is why we are here to appeal to all patriots: the time has come to defend the democratic rule of law", he exhorted.
The politician, brother of Abel Chivukuvuku, also stated that the country "seems to be regressing every day" and stressed that "the defense of democracy is an imperative of all patriotic forces" and that "everyone has the right to participate in building the country".
"It was regrettable that citizens' rights were being violated, with the aggravating factor that they did not even respect the presence of deputies who represent a sovereign body", he was indignant.
Those responsible for the political movement announced a new march for Saturday and admit to filing a complaint against the authorities or other forms of action, which they did not detail.
The National Police has not yet commented on the matter or responded to attempts at contact made by Lusa.
