The information was conveyed by the vice-president of the Angolan Students Movement (MEA), Joaquim Lutumbi, one of the students arrested on Saturday, who assured that the fight for better education and the right to education will continue.
“We are now free after a few days of being held by the police, but our fight for the right to education must continue. Our arrest has motivated us even more to fight, because the conditions in our schools, the lack of teachers, the lack of desks, and teaching materials continue,” said Lutambi as he left the court.
According to the vice-president of the MEA, the “lack of evidence of the crime” of disobedience to the authorities of which the students were accused contributed to their release, accusing the instructor of the case of “incompetence”.
“Fortunately, the court and the judge understood the incompetence of the procedural instructor, who was unable to assemble the lies that wanted to incriminate us, and the honorable judge then released us as there was no evidence to incriminate us,” said the student.
Joaquim Lutambi, who along with seven other students were summarily tried after being detained on Saturday in Luanda, also assured “an ongoing fight for justice and the right to education.”
“We are firm in the fight for justice, in the fight for the right to education, and the police will not prevent the exercise of the right to assembly and demonstration,” he assured.
At least 60 young people were arrested on Saturday during a march in defense of education and better conditions in public schools in Luanda, with most of them released on the same day and only eight being held in prison and tried today.
In addition to the students, four Angolan journalists were also detained or intimidated by the police while covering the demonstration, complaining that they had been forced to hand over their mobile phones for inspection.
The trial session on Monday was also marked by a strong police presence, especially outside the court, as activist Osvaldo Caholo told Lusa. He went to the court in solidarity with the detained students and said he had been “intimidated” by the police.
Lusa contacted the Angolan National Police again, but has not yet received any clarification on the detentions of students and journalists.
