Armed with posters and whistles, the young people gathered shortly after 10 am in front of the consulate in Alcântara, thus responding to an invitation made through social networks, which in recent times has been the main means of communication and also of denouncing what classify as "unpunished crime".
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than a dozen people have lost their lives in Angola 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 face mask.
"Who do we call, when the police kill?", "Hungry, sick, fragile and insecure" or "Stop killing us" were some of the phrases that could be read on the posters wielded by these young people who, orderly, started the protest chanting the National Anthem, shouting in unison "One people, one nation!".
The peaceful demonstration continued with a minute's silence for the "victims of police brutality in Angola", with young people on their knees and clenched fists, one of the symbols of resistance and solidarity.
More strident and with the support of loud whistles, the demonstrators wielded red cards, which they presented to violence, to the dictatorship, to the increase, to the brutality, to the nepotism, to the traffic of influences, to the white collar crime, to impunity, to hunger and the disease.
At the command of the protest, Emerson Sousa, coordinator of the Liberal Bloc, told the Lusa agency that a collection of signatures is underway in Angola with a view to creating a commission of inquiry into police brutality in that country.
The petitioners want to see the matter dealt with properly in the "house of laws" and for those responsible to be punished.
At stake is, according to the demonstrators, an increase in police violence against citizens who do not wear masks, even on the street, an obligation in Angola within the scope of protection measures against the covid-19.
For Emerson Sousa, the aggressors and their guardians have "their own agenda" behind this violence, as allegedly demonstrated by the postponement of the municipal elections, "with the excuse of the covid-19". "The use of force is always the weapon of reticence to change," he said.
Erica Tavares, another young Angolan involved in organizing this demonstration, underlined the symbolism of the protest and said that it is the youngest age group that is more attentive to violence in Angola and less willing to accept it.
Among the various complaints of cases of police violence against passers-by without a mask, the death of doctor Sílvio Dala was strongly criticized after being questioned by the police for not wearing a face mask when he was alone in the car.
"We have watched with concern the increase in police violence. It is true that there is a lot of fear of the covid-19, and that people do not always follow the rules, but the police have been very violent," he said.
Leonardo Botelho joined the protest "against police brutality", which, in his opinion, has increased with the covid-19 pandemic. The young man considers all this mobilization against violence and especially that promoted by the young people to be "very important". "Even far away, the pain we feel is the pain of the people of Angola," he said.
