The secretary general of JURA, the youth branch of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), regrets that the police have "embarked into the political field, when they are victims of the country's current socio-economic context".
"The security and order forces have never been as miserable as they are today, but they are dragged into a political logic that is to try to meet a narrative constructed by the President (of the Republic), João Lourenço", said this Monday Nelito Ekuikui to Lusa.
For the leader of the United and Revolutionary Youth of Angola (JURA), João Lourenço "has been unable to govern Angola in recent years".
"What is happening here is creating a scapegoat to try to escape the essence of the problem, which is the change in the price of gasoline, it is the basic basket that significantly changed the price", he said.
He pointed to the closure of warehouses and the fight against street vending, "in an economy that is 90 percent informal", as the core of citizen protests.
"Now President João Lourenço is unable to respond to these problems, he needs to make third parties responsible in the sense of sneaking out of a problem that he himself caused", stressed Nelito Ekuikui.
In a press release, the police accused UNITA deputies, leaders and militants of having directly participated in the organization of acts of public disorder resulting from the demonstrations, especially in Luanda and Benguela.
Nelito Ekuikui and Adriano Sapinãla, UNITA provincial secretary in Luanda, were present at the capital march.
Activists and members of civil society were the promoters of the national demonstration against the rise in fuel prices, the end of street vending and the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, which in Luanda was dispersed by the national police with tear gas bombs.
"In Luanda and Benguela, contrary to what happened in other provinces, the promoters of the demonstrations did not observe the required legal assumptions and, in disobedience to the indications about the pre-established itinerary, they excelled in riots, rebellion and violence against the police forces", reads if not communicated.
Ekuikui recalled that JURA, at its meeting in Bailundo (Huambo province) had announced "total and unconditional support for this demonstration which took place under the terms of the Constitution and the law".
"So it's in a statement and we always assumed we would be there, which we were," he added.
The deputy even challenged the President to back off as the fuel price rose.
"Lower the price of gasoline, everything is back to normal, he (President of the Republic) can retreat, he is human and fails and it is not the fact of being President that he cannot fail, he fails", he pointed out.
He also advised the head of state to seek to move forward with measures to stabilize the country's economy, considering that, "if that happens, people, the next day, will no longer be on the streets".
"Because, nobody instrumentalizes a hungry individual, hunger itself instrumentalizes, the problem is hunger, this is the problem and if he solves this problem, he will certainly have a peaceful government and we will be there to support him", he stated.
The UNITA politician also regretted that the march had been repressed, due to disagreements between the demonstrators and the forces of order, which, at a given moment, he said, decided to cancel the itinerary that had been agreed.
"Because if they had let the youth march to the side of the schools there would have been no incident, because it is a fact that at a given moment they blocked the road and there was this misunderstanding that, naturally, turned into a less good moment", concluded Nelito Ekuikui.
According to the police, the demonstrations, in which he used "moderate and proportional tactical operational means to restore public order", caused injuries to several participants, including citizens and seven police officers.
