In a statement, the "reformist" wing of the IURD led by Bishop Valente Bizerra Luís said that there was a clash between the two wings on Sunday, which forced police intervention, with more than 40 pastors and workers being arrested.
"To date, there is no news document identifying the subjects [detained] of the crime, nor their location, opting for silence and refusing to say where they are, preferring to just say: we cannot say anything for superior orders", the note reads.
For this wing of IURD Angola, the way in which the arrests took place violates the right to information, provided for in the Angolan Constitution, and translates into "abuse of authority, which makes the detainees hostage with the intention of coercing a community into an action or omission".
Secularism "needs to be material and not formal", the note also highlights, contesting what they call "atrocities and successive violations of human rights and illegalities carried out by national police officers".
Images circulating on social media confirm the confrontation between believers on Sunday, the day on which some IURD temples were reopened, including the Alvalade cathedral, whose mass was led by Bishop Alberto Segunda, leader of the Brazilian wing.
In November 2019, IURD dissidents in Angola accused the Brazilian leadership of financial crimes, racism, discrimination and abuse of authority, among others, and constituted a reformist wing, recognized by the Government as the legitimate representative of the Brazilian religious movement.
Subsequently, four members of the IURD leadership were made defendants, acquitted in March 2022, of most of the charges, except for the former person in charge Honorilton Gonçalves, sentenced to three years in prison, with a suspended sentence, for the crime of physical and psychological violence.
The conflict gave rise to two wings – the one of Brazilian origin, now led by the Angolan Alberto Segunda, and the dissident wing, Angolan, led by Bizerra Luís – which claim to be the legitimate representatives of the Church founded by Edir Macedo.
The Government recognized the new name of IURD Angola, Church of the Kingdom of God in Angola (IRDA), also determining the transfer of all assets to IRDA.
The changes resulting from the extraordinary meeting of the board of directors of the Angolan IURD, held on 8 February, were confirmed in executive decree no. 74/24 of 14 March of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Still in March, a few dozen faithful and pastors from IURD Angola protested in Luanda against the government order that attributed a new name to the religious institution, considering that the decision was "biased", in favor of the Brazilian wing.
