Angola: Authorities must respect and ensure the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
Angolan authorities must respect and ensure the right of peaceful assembly and guarantee that nationwide protests planned for 19 and 26 July against high cost of living, are facilitated and protected, said Amnesty International.
The organization has documented how members of the Rapid Intervention Police and the Service for Criminal Investigation repressed similar protests held in Luanda, on 12 July where at least two people were critically injured, and 17 others were arrested.
“Police must refrain from violating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including through the use of unnecessary and excessive force against protestors as witnessed in past protests, including on 12 July, where some of the protesters were arbitrarily arrested and others injured following unlawful use of force by the police,” said Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns in East and Southern Africa.
