Tag: protests

Angolan Police Detains 20 Demonstrators in Luanda

The Angolan National police arrested today some 20 youths, in Luanda, in a violent crackdown against anti-government protesters, who attempted to take to the streets to voice their discontent. Since 2011, small youth groups have been trying to emulate the Arab Spring in Angola, and their attempts have been met by disproportionate force by the police, pro-government militias, and the state security apparatus. The rapper Luaty Beirão and Adolfo Campos, one of the main figures in the Revolutionary Youth Movement, were arrested and taken to the Cazenga police station at about 9am. The two activists were among those who had gathered at the Santa Ana cemetery, the meeting point for the demonstration called by the movement, to protest against government repression. The protest was intended to put pressure on José Eduardo dos Santos’s government to make a public statement about the kidnapping, almost a year ago, of two activists, Alves […]

Read more

Alternating Demonstrations: Political Protest and the Government’s Response in Angola

In March 2011, at the height of the North African street protests, an anonymous letter went viral. It called for a mass demonstration in Luanda’s Independence Square, in the capital of Angola, on March 7, 2011. At this symbolic demonstration, the police arrested all seventeen individuals who attended, including three journalists and their driver who were there to cover the event. The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) politburo accused Western intelligence services, as well as pressured groups in Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Germany, of disseminating the online letter that demanded an end to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s thirty-two year rule. In an anticipated counter-offensive, the MPLA held pro-dos Santos demonstrations in several parts of the country on March 5, 2011, at a staggering cost of over $20 million from the party coffers. State media propaganda claimed that, in Luanda alone, the march […]

Read more