"State violence is not security: it is a violation of human rights," asserts the collective, which presents itself as an independent advocate for the human rights of girls and women in Angola, in a statement that also criticizes the security policy "that disregards life in the outskirts."
Ondjango recalls that Article 30 of the Constitution enshrines the inviolability of human life, holding the State responsible for its respect and protection—something that, according to the movement, has not been the case.
Ondjango considers the taxi drivers' protest "legitimate," given the collective fatigue with the undignified living conditions, and laments that it was met with brutality by the State.
"Instead of dialogue, the Government offers repression. Instead of listening, it offers bullets," it continues.
In the statement, the NGO directly references the death of Silvi Mubiala, a 33-year-old woman who was shot by the Rapid Intervention Police (PIR) in the CAOP B neighborhood of Viana, while trying to protect her son during the clashes.
The police allege that the shots were fired to protect the officers' physical safety and that the woman, allegedly in an irregular immigration situation, was participating in the acts of vandalism.
Videos circulating on social media show the woman being shot while fleeing an intense shootout, along with a group of people, including her son, who screams for his mother as the woman falls.
"Today [Wednesday], a mother was killed by the police while jogging with her son. She died trying to protect him—not from criminals, but from the very force that was supposed to guarantee his safety. Her son, in despair, screamed for her. This devastating scene is a cruel portrait of what is happening in the outskirts of Luanda: where the State is only present to repress, violate, and kill," the statement reads.
The feminist collective affirms that Silvi Mubiala's death "is the responsibility of the Angolan State" and "a direct consequence of a security policy that disregards human rights, that views the lives of poor people as disposable, and that acts with total impunity."
"We know that this mother is not the first, and unfortunately, she will not be the last, if nothing changes. The pattern is clear: when the people protest, the State responds with violence. When the outskirts rise up, the State silences them with blood," criticizes Ondjango Feminista.
The association concludes its statement with four demands: that police violence be denounced as a systematic, not accidental, practice; that the criminalization of poverty and protest be rejected; that justice and accountability be demanded for all lives taken by security forces; and that the right to protest be reaffirmed.
