"A picture is worth a thousand words. This has always been the behavior of UNITA gentlemen. Look at the history and see whose behavior this is. The videos are more than evident", replied the spokesman for the Popular Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA), Rui Falcão, to Lusa, urged to comment on the UNITA version, which blames the militants of the ruling party for the aggressions.
"The only comment that deserves us is our solidarity with the victims and the appeal to the police authorities to arrest the perpetrators of such a crime and send them, as quickly as possible, to the courts. Whoever they are, including the moral authors," added the MPLA leader.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) denounced this Tuesday, at a press conference in Luanda, the existence of "state terrorism and arbitrary arrests" of 35 party militants, following the conflicts.
The alleged arbitrary arrests of militants from the largest opposition party, arise in the context of clashes, recorded last Saturday, allegedly with MPLA militants.
According to UNITA's secretary general, Álvaro Chikwamanga Daniel, the incidents recorded on Saturday, in Sanza Pombo, originated within MPLA militants who "tried to derail" an act to celebrate the 56th anniversary of their party.
Images circulated on social media depicting the incidents in Sanza Pombo, which also resulted in injuries and the vandalism of the municipal station Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA).
The provincial secretary of UNITA in Uíge, Félix Simão Lucas, presented, on the occasion, photographs depicting the confrontation on Saturday, with some injuries and material damage, referring that the MPLA overlapped the UNITA act, previously communicated to the authorities.
Félix Simão Lucas reported that the attacks on UNITA militants, allegedly carried out by members of the MPLA, began at the entrance to the municipality of Sanza Pombo, with barricades on the roads, and in the surrounding villages where militants from his party were allegedly stoned.
