According to a statement by the institutional communication and press directorate of the Luanda Provincial Delegation of the Ministry of the Interior, the event took place on Saturday night in the Rocha Pinto area, involving the mobile police station of the Huambo district on the outskirts of the city of Luanda.
The document details that the incident occurred when the police, as part of the work of surveillance of measures to prevent the pandemic of covid-19, registered in the neighborhood Huambo a crowd of people, who showed resistance to the forces of order, when they tried to disperse them.
According to the police, the citizens "left for aggression against the forces of law and order, throwing sticks, stones and bottles".
"In an attempt to disperse, in defence of their own physical integrity, the forces of law and order fired shots which accidentally hit the citizen concerned and was quickly rescued from Josina Machel hospital, still alive, but unfortunately ended up dying", the note stresses.
In view of the occurrence, the communiqué describes, there was an attempt by the residents to vandalise the mobile police station, as well as some vehicles that were parked there, but the prompt intervention of the forces of law and order was able to calm the residents' fears.
"The delegation of the Ministry of Interior in Luanda urges citizens to comply with the measures imposed by the state of emergency in the face of the covid-19 pandemic and work with the authorities to overcome them all together, fighting the invisible enemy," the note said.
This is the record of the first death by police officers during the implementation of measures to prevent and combat covid-19, under the state of emergency, that Angola is complying with the third extension, after the declaration on 27 March.
Meanwhile, reports of confrontation between civilians and the police have been constant since the state of emergency began.
On Friday, the Minister of State and head of the Security House of the President of the Republic of Angola reaffirmed that nothing should justify excesses committed by police against citizens in the implementation of the state of emergency measures.
Pedro Sebastião, who was speaking at the Angolan National Assembly, responded to the concern about this situation raised by MPs.
The deputy head of state stressed that the government has received calls for attention "to the attitude, at times, of some elements of the National Police, which, acting on the sidelines of what is being directed, creates some discomfort to citizens and even, in some cases, to society".
"The Minister of the Interior has referred to this and acted accordingly, and that is why we are here to reaffirm this aspect as well, that nothing, but nothing, should justify the disproportionate use of the means we possess, in terms of order and tranquillity of the populations".
Angola has so far registered 45 positive cases of covid-19, of which two people have died and 11 have recovered.
