At least 21 people were injured due to “brutal intervention” by the police, according to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), during a vigil organized on Saturday night by the party’s provincial secretariat.
The President of UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, regretted that what was supposed to be a vigil in honor of MP Raul Danda (patron of UNITA MPs) ended “in violence and repression”.
“During the night, security forces brutally intervened against participants in the vigil organized by UNITA. The result is tragic: 21 injured, four of whom are in serious condition, hospitalized in the Bengo Provincial Hospital”, wrote Adalberto Costa Júnior on social media.
Costa Júnior expressed “vehement repudiation” of what happened, and referred to the use of tear gas and “gunshots to disperse citizens who were simply exercising their right to freedom of expression”.
“This attack is not only a violation of human rights, but an attack on the democratic values that we must all defend,” said the UNITA leader, “demanding an immediate public clarification.”
The Bengo Provincial Command of the Angolan Police, in turn, denied this Monday any repression or acts of violence against UNITA militants, stating that the use of tear gas was only intended to disperse the citizens, who were “protesting in a prohibited area.”
According to the police spokesman in Bengo, Superintendent Paulo Miranda de Sousa, the vigil was held in a space that had not been previously agreed with the authorities and police officers intervened to maintain peace.
“The organization stubbornly mobilized its personnel precisely where we agreed they should not be, thus defying the authorities,” the officer told Lusa.
The police “intervened in order to maintain order, and forcibly removed people from the area. There were no injuries, as has been reported. What we were able to ascertain is that some citizens felt unwell, given the tear gas used to disperse the population,” he explained.
Paulo Miranda de Sousa said that only three citizens were taken to hospital, “due to fright” from the tear gas shots, and have since been discharged, guaranteeing that “there were no injuries and no gunshots.”
“For those who do not have military knowledge, the firing of tear gas could be called gunshots, but they are merely devices intended to disperse protesters and are not lethal. They felt unwell from the fright, but their injuries were not serious,” concluded the officer.
