Speaking to Lusa, Teixeira Cândido stressed that journalist Coque Mukuta, correspondent for Voz da América, was duly identified and nothing prevented him from capturing images at the Santa Ana cemetery, where this morning a protest march by civil society organizations against the electoral process was to begin.
"Nothing justifies that he was questioned or detained for three hours, there is no curfew, the journalist was in a public space and covering a public event", highlighted the SJA leader.
Teixeira Cândido added that the union had already approached those responsible for the police, who would have justified that it was a mistake.
"In the case of Coque, there was not even a demonstration as such, people were still arriving", he pointed out.
"How is it possible, if he was properly identified? How can they detain a citizen, whether for 10 minutes or three hours and only then identify him?", he asked.
The secretary general of the SJA also underlined that these situations are recurrent and "incomprehensible" as the union has already talked to the police authorities in order to establish a principle of mutual respect for the work of each one.
The march called by civil society, which was supposed to leave the Santa Ana cemetery to the National Electoral Commission for the delivery of a manifesto, did not take place due to the intervention of the police.
Laurinda Gouveia, one of the promoters of the protest, told Lusa that there are at least 13 activists detained, including one of the signers of the manifesto that civil society organizations intended to deliver to the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
Contacted by Lusa, the Luanda police spokesman, Nestor Goubel, confirmed the "attempted demonstration" and said he would find out about the arrests, sending clarifications for later.
The Provincial Government of Luanda had banned the march, according to the promoters.
