Miguel Fernandes, one of the residents of the locality, told Lusa this Monday that the forced resettlement of more than 1000 residents of the district began in the early hours of last Saturday, after several shots were allegedly carried out by the security forces.
"On Saturday, the police and the FAA showed up at the scene to force people to leave the area, there were many shots, they even shot a cousin of mine in the back and leg, and as the people fled the shots they started to take the people's stuff," he said.
The goods of the people who lived in the area adjacent to the NAIL, commune of Bom Jesus, 30 kilometers from Luanda, in the open since 15 April after seeing their homes collapsed, were taken to an area 15 kilometers from space.
According to Miguel Fernandes, the shots allegedly by FAA and police officers saw the people dispersing, including children, adults and the elderly, who, even outside for days, did not want to leave the place on Saturday.
"They put (things) in trucks and took them to a Bolomi area, after the Matabeleiro area, who goes to Bom Jesus, where they took the staff and gave land with a dimension of 5 square meters and five sheets of sheet metal", he described.
The resident regretted the attitude of the authorities and stated that just as his residences were demolished, "without any warning", the same mechanism was used to carry out this "forced resettlement and without the consent of the people".
"It was the forced resettlement, without the consent of the people, what leaves more doubt is that they only do this work on Saturdays, they said there that the State will not provide a home", he stressed.
At least five residents of the area have been detained since Saturday, including one of the coordinators of the neighborhood "because he is being considered a people's agitator".
"While we are just discussing our rights, five people have been detained," said Miguel Fernandes.
The neighborhoods in which the houses were demolished, comprising kilometers 36, 38, 40 and 44, are part of the commune of Bom Jesus, municipality of Icolo e Bengo, one of nine in the capital.
Lemba Domingos made it known that the people "forcibly relocated" on Saturday were "thrown in the middle of a bush, without the minimum conditions, just with a few sheets of plates".
A widow and mother of six, who are out of school because even the children's school has not escaped the demolition hammer, recalled that, on Saturday, people ran dispersed due to shootings in the region.
"Because there were a lot of shots, and they (FAA police officers) took our things and took them to a very distant area and the situation is complicated because nobody tells us anything", she said.
The perimeter of the NAIL, where the rubble of the demolished homes is visible, said Miguel Fernandes, has been under surveillance since last Saturday by the forces of order and security.
Regarding the complaints of detained and injured people, the spokesman for the Luanda Provincial Command of the National Police, Nestor Goubel, assured Lusa "to investigate the complaints for further clarification".
The Minister of Public Works and Territorial Planning, Manuel Tavares de Almeida, said recently that the people living in the NAIL perimeter had already been registered and that the relocation would only cover those residing in the area until the construction of the airport began.
The President, João Lourenço, visited the construction works at NAIL, on April 9, 2022, when the Minister of Transport, Ricardo de Abreu, said that the works would end in the first quarter of 2023 and that of the 1.2 billion euros financed, 40 percent have already been implemented.
The construction works of the NAIL began in 2007 and its certification process should start next June.
