The demonstration called by the so-called “social movement” against the aforementioned laws, bringing together several civic and political associations, is scheduled for August 31 in Luanda, and, according to the organization, the capital's government has already been informed about the march.
According to Adilson Manuel, one of the organizers, activists who signed the demonstration's statement are being targeted by personal and anonymous threats and intimidation, guaranteeing, however, that the organization will not back down and hopes for a large support from civil society and political actors.
“We have already started to receive threats to many members who signed the document, also from unidentified people with telephone calls, but we will not back down because demonstrating is a constitutional right”, he concluded.
The march is a protest to “publicly express discontent with the approval of the law that criminalizes acts of vandalism of public property and also the national security law, because there we find several ambiguous elements”, the activist told Lusa.
These laws “end up seriously tarnishing constitutional precepts. We also believe that there are serious errors there, they are laws that privilege Government actors”, he argued, highlighting that they still “condition” the exercise of citizens’ right to assembly and demonstration.
According to the activist, the statement about the demonstration was sent to the Government of the Province of Luanda (GPL) last Friday, August 16, preceded by several petitions sent to the President of the Republic, the Constitutional Court and the Conference of Catholic Bishops, “no response so far.”
The GPL has not yet commented, “but we are not waiting for them to validate our initiative, what we did was just comply with the law and let the bodies know and we will carry out (the demonstration), he assured.
Last July, parliament approved the Law on Crimes of Vandalism of Public Goods and Services, with penalties ranging from three to 25 years in prison for offenders.
At the end of July, the Associação Justiça, Paz e Democracia expressed its opposition to the law because it “contains a veiled intention” to inhibit freedoms of assembly and demonstration, calling for preventive and successive inspection of its constitutionality.
The intention to criminalize vandalism with a criminal framework equivalent to that of the crime of qualified homicide, “attacks the constitutional principle of proportionality”, observes the association.
According to the NGO, the executive, supported by the MPLA, intends, in a veiled manner with the aforementioned law, to have legal means to, in the course of exercising freedoms of assembly and demonstration, persecute civic organizations and political parties.
The proposed National Security Law was approved last Wednesday, a diploma that for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) incorporates “robust measures” to prevent and combat threats to internal security and that for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) contains “grey areas”.
