The events will have occurred in the mining town of Cafunfo-Cuango.
The Lunda Tchokwe Protected Movement, which fights for autonomy in the Lundas region, in the East-North of the country, had scheduled a demonstration for this Saturday, but the leaders complain of being persecuted and have denounced several arrests in recent days.
A statement issued this Saturday by the Lunda Norte Provincial Police Command reports the deaths of four people at dawn due to an "act of armed rebellion," information that other sources heard by the Lusa oppose.
According to the police, the act was carried out by about 300 members of the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate in the mining town of Cafunfo-Cuango who tried to invade a police station at about 4 a.m. to occupy it and place a flag.
The police say that the demonstrators were armed with firearms, white weapons, sticks and irons and caused injuries to two officers, and four people were killed and another five were injured during the dispersion attempt.
The police version is contradicted by Lunda Norte civic activists and the president of the movement who, in statements to Lusa, reported different death toll numbers and stated that the demonstrators were not armed.
According to José Mateus Zecamutchima, president of the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement, a group of people were on their way to the demonstration site at about 6 a.m. when they found themselves involved in clashes with the police, as a result of which 15 people died and 19 were injured, including one child.
The leader, who denied the attempt to invade the police station, told Lusa that a letter had been sent in advance to the provincial government asking for authorization for the demonstration for the right to recognize autonomy, but the police "began immediately to arrest people," 12 members of the movement having been arrested since January 16.
José Mateus Zecamutchima also denied that they were armed: "We will find a weapon where? Who will give us a gun," he questioned, regretting that the authorities do not assume what happened and whose images are being shared through social networks.
Jordan Muacabinza, a civic activist and human rights defender living in Cafunfo, also mentioned that the demonstrators were armed and said that the information he gathered points to seven deaths.
"They militarized the whole area," he told Lusa, explaining that his house, as well as that of other activists, is surrounded and that nobody is allowed to leave.
"The entire population of Cafunfo is locked in their homes. The area is militarized and in a state of siege," added the independent activist, who does not belong to the Lunda Chokwe Protectorate movement.
"As far as I know, they weren't armed, I've never seen any militant here armed," he said, reporting that the police and military fired indiscriminately at civilians.
The autonomy of the diamond-rich Lundas region (Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, in the east of the country) is claimed by a movement based on a Protectorate Agreement between Lunda-Tchokwe natives and Portugal in 1885 and 1894, which would give the territory an internationally recognized status.
Portugal would have ignored the condition of the kingdom when it negotiated Angola's independence between 1974 and 1975 only with the liberation movements, according to the movement.
