The show "Protect the Protest" is an allusion to the one-year imprisonment of the "4+1 political prisoners", namely the activists Adolfo Campos, Gilson da Silva Moreira "Tanaice Neutro", Hermenegildo André "Gildo das Ruas" and Abraão dos Santos and the "tiktoker" Neth Nahara, who have been in prison for a year.
The initiative by the Movimento Cívico Mudei, an Angolan non-governmental organization, and Amnesty International (AI), scheduled for Saturday, October 5, in the municipality of Viana, in Luanda, also aims to protest "against the criminalization of freedom of expression".
"We have seen the laws that have been approved in recent times, the abusive use of article 333 of the Angolan Penal Code (on insulting the State, its symbols and organs) to criminalize freedom of expression and throw people in prison", Luaty Beirão told Lusa this Thursday, justifying the initiative.
For the activist and coordinator of Mudei, the "illegitimate government and its illegitimate members of parliament are using 'lawfare' (using legislation as a weapon to achieve a political-social goal) to criminalize fundamental freedoms and intimidate civic actors from doing their work to raise critical awareness".
"It is essential to resist this and I think we have done very little. Our comrades have been imprisoned for a year and no one talks about them, because in the hustle and bustle of the daily 'babulos' [slang for problems and difficulties], they become just another one", he lamented.
Regarding possible impediments to activity, in solidarity with the activists, Luaty Beirão understands that it would not be a novelty, possible barriers: "We have few options other than to challenge barriers and provoke these visceral, childish and antidemocratic reactions", he pointed out.
Adolfo Campos, "Tanaice Neutro", "Gildo das Ruas" and Abraão dos Santos have been in prison since September 2023, after being convicted of crimes of disobedience and resistance, following a demonstration in support of motorcycle taxi drivers in Luanda, a sentence considered by their lawyers as "absurd and politically motivated".
Last February, Angolan non-governmental organizations called for "unconditional freedom" and the annulment of the sentence that convicted the activists, as well as the "compulsory removal" of the judge from the case due to "procedural errors".
"Tiktoker" Ana da Silva Miguel, also known as Neth Nahara, has been in prison since August 2023 for insulting the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, on social media, and AI recently called for her release and that of the four activists.
The show "Protect the Protest" should bring together at the "10Padrozinada" library, in Viana, the musicians MCK, Ikonoklasta, Jaime MC, Ísis Hembe, Movimento 3.ª Divisão, Kamesu Voz Seca, Nobsaibot, Luz Feliz, Muçulmano Guesta and others.
