According to Jornal de Angola, which cites the spokesman for the General Command of the National Police, sub-commissioner Mateus Rodrigues, 32 demonstrators were arrested in Luanda and 55 in Benguela, as part of the protests against the rise in fuel prices, the end of street sales and proposal to amend the statutes of NGOs that took thousands of Angolans to the streets.
Information from activists reports detainees in other places, namely Cabinda, Bié and Huambo. Lusa contacted the National Police for further clarification, but received no response.
As Mateus Rodrigues declared to Jornal de Angola, the organizers of the demonstration did not obey the legal requirements, violated the itinerary and uttered offenses against the agents.
In a statement released on Sunday, the National Police blamed the disturbances on the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the main opposition party, although this political force has not officially joined the protests and has denounced alleged attempts by the regime to blame the party for the incidents.
Mateus Rodrigues considered, according to Jornal de Angola, that the presence of the general secretary of the Jura, Nelito Ekuikui, and the first secretary of UNITA in the province, Adriano Sapiñala, both deputies, gave the demonstration a "political character".
On their social networks, Sapiñala and Ekuikui criticized Angolan Public Television, which used the image of the two leaders and accused UNITA of inciting disorder, citing "Government sources", urging the public channel to broadcast images of police aggression and the exercise the adversarial principle.
The president of UNITA, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, also addressed the issue on his Facebook page, pointing out "light accusations directed against UNITA and its president, without the right to be heard, in a gross manipulation of information content".
"It is regrettable that police officers and journalists are subject to these freight charges", lamented the UNITA leader.
The protests were repressed in Luanda and Benguela with the police using tear gas and shooting at the demonstrators, which resulted in an undetermined number of injuries, including seven members of the security forces, according to the National Police.
The authorities say that there were no incidents in the other provinces.
