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Human Rights Watch calls on the Government to act in the face of abuse against protesters

The human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch has called on the government to investigate the abuses of police forces against protesters in Luanda on Wednesday and hold those involved accountable.

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement that the police used live ammunition, tear gas and dogs to disperse a peaceful anti-government protest in Luanda, during which a protester died, adding that activists Nito Alves and Laurinda Gouveia and "arbitrarily detained" also the activist Luaty Beirão.

The note from the NGO mentions the videos circulated on social networks and showing people running on the streets of Luanda, looking for places to hide, while the police fire shots and tear gas, and other testimonies point to beatings of demonstrators who were taken in police cars to an uncertain location.

"Police firing at peaceful protesters is revolting and criminal," said Zenaida Machado, a senior investigator at the NGO, urging the government to thoroughly investigate the excessive use of lethal force and accountability of those involved.

On Wednesday, thousands of police officers took to the streets of Luanda to prevent young people from concentrating on a demonstration called by civil society to demand better living conditions and local elections in 2021.

The demonstration was banned by the Luanda Provincial Government, which argued, among other reasons, the fact that the measures in force in the calamity situation prevent gatherings of more than five people on the public route.

"The Angolan Government should not use covid-19 measures as an excuse for intense policing and violent repression of peaceful protests," said Zenaida Machado, calling for "concrete measures against those who commit abuses against peaceful protesters".

On Wednesday, police barriers closed access to Cacuaco, Benfica, Viana and other areas to the city center and dispersed the protesters using tear gas.

HRW said that around 11 am the police used live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators and target a young man. Police on Wednesday denied the existence of deaths, but a doctor at the hospital where the protester was interned, who was seriously injured, confirmed the death, rejecting, however, that the cause was a shot.

The organization pointed out that several inhabitants reported having been questioned, searched and questioned about the reasons for going to the city center, where the demonstration would take place, arresting or sending back those who did not present convincing reasons.

HRW recalled that the Government of President João Lourenço was seen "as a new era in the promotion and respect for human rights in Angola, with notable improvements in freedom of expression and assembly", a situation that "changed dramatically in October, when the President, as part of the measures to control the spread of covid-19, it issued a decree banning all public meetings of more than five people ".

The measure came into force a few hours before a demonstration called by activists and UNITA, which was also strongly repressed by the police and ended with the arrest of a hundred people, including journalists.

"President João Lourenço publicly regretted the arrests of journalists, but he did not announce any measures against the police involved in the use of excessive force", stressed HRW.

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