In an interview with RFI, João Lourenço considered "the expression 'repression' very strong", stressing that Angola is not a repressive state.
“But as we have all come to see, the demonstrations are not always as peaceful as we would like. The bad thing would be, as it was in the past, there were never demonstrations, demonstrations were considered prohibited. This is not the case, demonstrations in Angola are not prohibited and proof of that is that there are demonstrations every weekend”, he said.
According to João Lourenço, not all demonstrations are the same. “Not all comply with what the law establishes, some are violent, sometimes even too violent, against public property, against police forces and then the State has to enforce its authority”, he gave as justification.
The head of state gave the example of the demonstrations in Paris, France, in the case of “the famous yellow vests”, in which “the police and the demonstrators did not kiss”.
“There was a lot of beatings there and no one spoke of repression. The demonstrators did their part and the authorities also did their part. In the USA we see the same thing and in the great democracies we see it”, he stressed.
João Lourenço stressed that "the ideal will always be that the demonstrations are peaceful, that no one is molested, there are no injuries, much less dead".
“In Angola there is no repression and the proof that it does not exist is that every Saturday there are demonstrations in Angola”, he reinforced.
