"The National Police, after having detained them for many hours, without any explanation as to the reasons for such brutal and illegal behavior, other than saying that 'the demonstration was not authorized', ended up releasing them at 6:00 pm, without any release order, in the same way that they deprived them of their freedom, without any warrant or plausible reason", emphasized the Democratic Bloc in a statement.
The party emphasizes that demonstrations do not require authorization, but only notification, which was done by the organizers of the protest, a civic movement composed of several organizations that contest the Law on Crimes of Vandalism against Public Property, recently approved by the National Assembly, because they consider that it undermines the fundamental rights of citizens and seeks to criminalize the organizers of demonstrations.
The Democratic Bloc accuses the police of having obeyed "an order from above", which aimed to prevent the demonstration against the law and repudiated "such a maneuver" for violating citizens' rights.
The demonstration was stopped by the police, as it was not authorised, and several activists and a journalist were arrested at the gathering site – Santa Ana cemetery.
The officers also tried to force the Lusa journalists who were covering the event, and who were duly identified, to get into the police van and hand over their photographic equipment, which was only prevented due to the intervention of a senior officer.
The Executive Secretariat of the Permanent Commission of the National Committee of JURA, a UNITA youth organisation, condemned "the brutal repression by the police", which it accused of receiving "political orders" and acting "in an authoritarian manner, detaining demonstrators and journalists, in a desperate attempt to silence the voice of the people".
JURA stresses that this "act of repression clearly represents a violation of fundamental rights and a direct affront to democracy and freedom in Angola" and demanded the "immediate release of those detained and the accountability of those responsible for this shameful operation".
In a Facebook post, the president of the Democratic Bloc (BD), Filomeno Vieira Lopes, said that he spoke on Saturday afternoon with the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, about "the arrests and other serious incidents surrounding the demonstration", and that she offered to contact the Minister of the Interior, Eugénio Laborinho, to clarify the situation.
According to Filomeno Vieira Lopes, deputy Olívio Nkilumbo was "mistreated" by the police when he tried to find out what was happening at the demonstration site.
The police did not reveal the number of people arrested.
