According to BD, the arrest of the protesters "was arbitrary because there were no indications or elements that would point to imputable acts of crime by the protesters and repressive for curbing the right to free demonstration by constraining and creating state terror through truculence".
In a note of repudiation, the party recalls that the right to freedom of expression and free demonstration is fundamental in a democratic and just society, considering that the episode "demonstrates the truculence and authoritarianism of the Angolan government.
More than 20 young activists in Luanda complained of having been prevented by police from demonstrating this Monday morning in front of the National Assembly, where they intended to "demand justice and transparency" in the discussion of laws to amend the electoral package.
The police action, which deployed a huge deployment of officers all around the perimeter and streets adjacent to the parliament, the protesters said, began 300 meters from the parliamentary seat.
Some demonstrators, who wanted to reach the southern gate of the National Assembly, the main entrance, were detained, according to media reports on the spot, and those who circulated within the perimeter were subjected to questioning and searches by the police.
The cavalry brigade and plainclothes agents reinforced the police cordon on the main and side streets of the National Assembly.
In statements to journalists, the young activist Joaquim Manuel condemned the interdiction of the march of demonstrators who were heading to the seat of parliament, complaining of some "petulance" by police officers on the spot.
"The police are once again interdicting our march, we intend to reach the southern gate of the National Assembly so that we can carry out our demonstration, which aims to demand our deputies to vote a fair law that can guarantee transparent elections in our country," said Joaquim Manuel.
According to the political party, among the young people arrested is the youth leader of this political organization, Adilson Manuel.
For the Bloco Democrático, not preserving the right to freedom of expression and free manifestation "leads to the construction of a society based on the fear of single thought, going back to situations that led other societies towards a fascist state".
"And so that this does not occur in our country, we express our repudiation of the fact that occurred," reads the note, which also calls for the "release of all protesters for deserving the rights of citizenship and political participation."
The political formation affirms that it will not agree with the "episodes that in recent times have become the mark of the governance, called democratic, where, not rarely", one witnesses "people being arrested and even killed for exercising their citizenship".
Deputies are discussing in the specialty commissions the draft law amending the Organic Law on General Elections, an initiative of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, in opposition), the draft law amending the Organic Law on General Elections, an initiative of the parliamentary group of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power) and the draft law amending the Official Voter Registration Law, an initiative of the MPLA.
The discussion of the referred diplomas has deserved heated debates between the deputies, who aim at consensus aiming at the general elections foreseen for 2022.
The final approval of the diplomas is expected for September 1st.
