The question of purchasing power puts the executive under pressure in Angola. More than 100 people, including women and the elderly, were arrested by police in the east of the country following anti-government protests, local authorities said on Sunday.
The demonstrators were protesting against the government, the cost of living, corruption and the failure of public services. According to authorities in the eastern province of Lunda Sul, they acted in “rebellion” by throwing stones, sharp objects and damaging two police vehicles. As a result, “132 people were arrested, including 92 men aged between 18 and 78, as well as 45 women aged 19 to 58,” according to a press release from the local Interior Ministry.
Human Rights Watch denounces arbitrary detentions
At the beginning of August, Human Rights Watch accused the Angolan police of having killed around fifteen activists hostile to power since January. The country’s security forces are also accused of having carried out hundreds of arbitrary arrests and detentions, according to the NGO.
Oil-rich Angola has seen a wave of protests since the government’s unpopular decision to cut fuel subsidies in June, which sent prices at the pump soaring. This measure is intended to reduce public spending, in a context of falling oil revenues which are weakening the national currency, the kwanza.