Yesterday, a few hundred young people went to the National Assembly of Angola, in Luanda, where the dictatorship of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) strives to maintain the facade of a democratic regime.
By: Antonio Tonga August 31, 2021
Protesters were assembled against what is called an “electoral diploma”, a project that tries to create more prohibitive rules and conditions at the country elections. The protesters demand democratic conditions to participate in the autarchic elections that should take place in 2022 (but which have been promised to take place for several years).
Getting close to the National Assembly, the young protesters encountered a large number of national police who had set up a cordon around the perimeter and adjacent sites, including riot police, the cavalry brigade, and plainclothes agents.
Although they carried out a peaceful protest, the demonstrators were harshly repressed with sticks and batons. More than 20 protesters were arrested.
The repercussions of this dictatorial repression by the Angolan government were immediate. Inside and outside the country, various political organizations and youth activists have repudiated this repression and prepared a major campaign claiming freedom for the political prisoners.
In Luanda, a new and even larger demonstration was being called to take place in front of the National Assembly. Faced with this, the dictatorship released all the prisoners at the end of the day.
Enough dictatorship! Enough misery!
Angolan youth is tired of poverty, high cost of living, and the repression and authoritarianism that has increased in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, protests have grown in the last period in various parts of the country demanding the MPLA expel, free local elections, and against the electoral law and changes in the CNE (National Elections Commission).
The comrades of the International Workers League (LIT-QI) from Portugal and Brazil quickly expressed their unequivocal solidarity with this manifestation of the Angolan youth struggle and claimed for freedom of political prisoners against the bloodthirsty dictatorship of the MPLA. We do not forget the events of the beginning of the year in Cafunfo, where the national police slaughtered more than 20 members of the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate.
JLO OUT! MPLA OUT!
Watch the direct video on the protests:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=517624469539171&id=102870341395465
MPLA Dictatorship Crushes Youth Protests for Democratic Rights
