22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest
Violence erupted on Monday, the first day of a strike called by taxi drivers to protest the July 1 increase in fuel costs in the oil-rich nation where millions live in poverty.
It was some of the worst unrest in several years in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which has been governed by the MPLA party since 1975.
Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police.
"We regret 22 deaths, including one police officer," Interior Minister Manuel Homem told reporters on the sidelines of a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Joao Lourenco.
Nearly 200 people were injured in the violence, he said, and more than 1,200 people had been arrested.
The unrest was marked by massive looting in which people raided supermarkets and warehouses, making off with food and other supplies. Sixty-six shops were damaged, Homem said.
The streets of Luanda were tense and largely empty Wednesday, although there were some queues outside petrol stations and shops, AFP reporters said. There was a heavy presence of security forces.
Many shops remained closed, but public transport had slowly resumed in some areas after a two-day standstill.
With the protests having spread outside the capital, a statement after the ministers' meeting said vandalism and rioting had "triggered a climate of widespread insecurity".
It said "elements with criminal intentions" had turned the demonstration into a "threat to security".
Police in the southern city of Lubango confirmed separately that a police officer had shot and killed a 16-year-old on Tuesday.
The teenager was part of a group attempting to invade the headquarters of the ruling MPLA party, a statement said.
- Series of protests -
The strike was the latest in a series of protests this month after the price of fuel was hiked from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a litre on July 1.
The government's move to lower its heavy fuel subsidies reportedly followed International Monetary Fund calls for more public money for health and education.
But it has angered many in the country of 36 million people, already under pressure from inflation of around 20 percent while nearly 30 percent are unemployed.
High inflation and limited growth "are likely to keep poverty rates high, around 36 percent by 2026, underscoring the need for a stronger social safety net and more development spending", according to the World Bank.
At a demonstration of around 2,000 people in Luanda on Saturday, protesters condemned the fuel price hike but also brandished signs denouncing MPLA "corruption" or discontent with the rule of Lourenco, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2022.
There had been similar protests the two previous weekends.
In a joint statement Wednesday, the opposition UNITA and Bloco Democratico parties said Angola was in a "severe economic and social crisis" that was a result of government policies "disconnected from the country's reality".
Amnesty International and other rights groups have accused the police of using excessive force against protesters in Angola, which suffered through a 1975-2002 civil war and almost four decades of repression under former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
In January 2021 police killed at least 10 people after opening fire on an anti-poverty protest in the diamond mining town of Cafunfo, around 750 kilometres (470 miles) east of Luanda, according to Amnesty.
By Mario Paiva
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She said the air quality has been particularly good since the "metal works are currently stopped".
