According to statements by the superintendent Lázaro Conceição, to the Public Television of Angola (TPA), the police were called to intervene in the Morro Bento temple "to maintain order and public tranquility, at 4 am", with five people identified at the site , four of Angolan nationality and one foreign.
After being taken to the 21st police station, where "they were subjected to a police interview", the citizens were released.
"There has not been proven the existence of a crime that could justify their detention because they were only identified and released," said Lázaro Conceição, explaining that the courts will decide on the conflict between Angolan and Brazilian pastors of the IURD.
The superintendent stressed that during the police intervention there was no recourse to force, the police having arrived at the scene and identified that there were differences.
According to one of the IURD dissidents, the incident happened when a group of Brazilian pastors tried to recover the temple that had been taken over by Angolans.
Gime Inácio, spokesman for the IURD reform commission, told TPA that the temples of Morro Bento and Patriota were invaded by armed men and that the police fired shots to control the turmoil, which was, however, denied by Lázaro Conceição.
The same spokesman said that a new leader was appointed to lead "the destinies of the church" in Angola, Bishop Luís Valente.
The disagreements between Brazilian and Angolan pastors, which have dragged on for several months, culminated on Monday with the seizure of temples in several provinces, including 30 in Luanda.
Angolans, who have disengaged themselves from the Brazilian wing, speak of various crimes and negative practices by Brazilians, including racism, corruption and embezzlement.
The IURD challenges and accuses this group of "practices and deviation from moral and, in some cases, criminal conduct, contrary to the Christian principles required of a cult minister", complaining of being the target of xenophobic attacks.
Meanwhile, the IURD in Angola reported on its Facebook social network page that despite the reopening of face-to-face worship, its churches will remain closed across the country, as the security of pastors and the faithful is not guaranteed.
"The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Angola, hereby communicates to its faithful and sympathetic members that due to the recent events triggered by acts of invasion and rebellion by the ex-pastors that make us unsafe for the churches to be reopened and due to the evolution of the epidemiological situation of covid-19 "the temples remain closed.
Angola reopened churches to the cult, after they were closed due to the state of emergency caused by the covid-19 pandemic, except in Luanda and Cuanza Norte, because of the epidemiological evolution in these two provinces, the only ones diagnosed with infections.
