A group mobilized by the rapper Brigadeiro 10 Packages under the motto "All for Human Rights. Don't Touch My Brother" joined at about 10 am at the Igreja da Sagrada Família asking for the resignation of the interior minister, Eugénio Laborinho, and reforms in police, so that citizens "instead of being afraid, see the police as protector".
Shouting slogans and handing out leaflets denouncing "barbaric acts" against activist Jorge Kisseque, allegedly shot by the police, and doctor Sílvio Dala, killed in early September, the protest, one of four that took place in Luanda, joined more police forces than demonstrators, with elements of riot police, cavalry and canine brigade attentive to young people.
Speaking to Lusa, Brigadeiro Dezpackages, whose real name is Bruno Santos, appealed for the resignation of the guardianship minister and asked for police training schools in order to improve the legal and pedagogical culture when they approach citizens.
"The police is an organ that must guarantee the confidence of the citizen, today we live in a serious insecurity in which all citizens when faced with the police are afraid, instead of facing the police as a protector", said the activist, asking "reforms" so that "the police are friendly to the citizen".
"The police cannot be used to maintain the MPLA's power and repress the people" and "sow fear", criticized the 'rapper', who announced at the beginning of the year the intention to launch a new political party.
Brigadier 10 Packages stressed that Angola has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that there is "an attack" on that treaty.
"We are not going to admit a state that kills its citizens, that systematically violates human rights, a state that threatens, a state that terrorizes instead of protecting," he challenged.
"Angolan lives matter", read on a poster wielded by a demonstrator in another protest ("No to police brutality") that started at 12.00 at Clube 1.º de Agosto, in an allusion to the international activist movement that originated in African American community.
About 50 young people, many dressed in black, gathered in this place, displaying homemade posters asking "Stop killing us" and "Enough of deaths! They are paid to protect, they are not paid to kill", while another demanded "Laborinho [ interior minister] outside ".
"This concentration is a response that we, independent young people, intend to make as a way of saying that violence is enough," one of the organizers of this protest, Israel Campos, told Lusa, recalling that the last few days have been marked by "regrettable episodes" that shock society and "unfortunately" involve an institution that should guarantee the safety of its citizens.
"That's why we got together to say 'enough police violence'," he reiterated, adding that there must be accountability and that the police's apologies "do not arrive" because "innocent Angolans cannot be allowed to die in this way".
"Having a gun in hand is a very big responsibility and we have to make sure that they are only used in extreme situations and not to resolve minimal situations," said the young man, stressing that "it is not against the police", but Angolans "are fed up ".
David Mendes, one of the protesters, wanted to be present because "Angolan lives matter" and accused the police of acting in bad faith and not protecting citizens: "We are no longer afraid of the pandemic, we are afraid of the police, who kill more than the disease, we don’t have friends or family members killed by covid-19, but we have friends, family members and neighbors who died from police brutality ", he said, showing his outrage at the deaths.
The activist also considered that the Minister of Interior and the Provincial Commander of Luanda should resign as they have not shown that they have the necessary competence to manage the problem of the police "that is terrorizing people".
"We want heads to roll," said Davide Mendes, pointing out that the problems are not of today and that the police commit "barbarities" because "they have no pedagogy".
The march "No to Police Brutality" continued until Largo das Heroínas, where it ended with the reading of a speech on human rights.
Four demonstrations took place in Luanda: one of a political nature, by supporters of PRA-JA Servir Angola, a party project by Abel Chivukuvuku, who are against the actions of the Constitutional Court. The other three are against police violence, including one called by the National Union of Doctors of Angola (Sinmea) after the death of pediatrician Sílvio Dala.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than a dozen people have lost their lives as a result of police interventions to enforce presidential decrees with the measures that prevailed in the state of emergency and now in the situation of public calamity, namely the use of a face mask .
