Eugénio Laborinho, who was speaking at a press conference in Luanda, after the first week of state of emergency, enacted in Angola to combat the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, pointed out that 1209 citizens were detained in this period for disobedience.
"We are imposing fines, we are detaining people, in this situation of disobedience alone we had up to 1209 citizens", he said.
Among these, 1007 were detained for violating borders, 183 for disobedience to state measures of exception, nine for speculation, eight for corruption and two for illegal possession of firearms.
Those detained for situations of disobedience or non-compliance with the decree that determines the state of emergency are kept in their own "quarantine" cells, created for this purpose.
"We have been acting in accordance with the law and the very measures we are taking depend on the degree of intervention in each case and we are criticized [for that]," said the minister, adding: "The police are not on the ground to serve sweets. , nor to give chocolates, it will act according to the behavior of each citizen or each cluster ".
Eugénio Laborinho pointed out that the authorities have been working to carry out a pedagogical action and try to educate in a way that there is no confrontation between the population and the police, but noted that "the police are also the daughter of the people and need to be cherished" .
The official stressed that disobedience to the state of emergency has been observed, which imposes restrictions on the movement of people and prohibits large agglomerations, especially in the province of Luanda.
"Luanda, for us, is a puzzle, but we will do everything to make the situation normal," he stressed.
Eugénio Laborinho admitted a tightening of the measures that have been taken "because people are still stubborn" and "have to stay at home".
He added that in this first week, the Integrated Center for Public Security (CISP) received 1389 calls, regarding suspicious cases, requests for information and reports of non-compliance with quarantine.
In the balance of the first week, the Minister of State and head of the House of Security that coordinates the interministerial commission to combat the pandemic, Pedro Sebastião, pointed out that the country registered 162 suspected cases and maintains eight positive cases, of which two died.
441 people are in institutional quarantine and 812 people are in domestic quarantine, including 478 in Luanda.
