LUANDA: Shots rang out as Angola’s capital was gripped by a second day of looting Tuesday, after at least four people were killed and scores arrested when violence erupted during a strike against a fuel price hike.
Transport in Luanda remained suspended and shops closed after massive looting on Monday, the first day of the taxi drivers’ strike to condemn the July 1 price rise, which had already led to several protests.
Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops, an AFP reporter said.
Images shared on social media showed clashes in the Rocha Pinto suburb near the airport and security forces deploying to a street where burning rubbish bins barricaded a road in the Prenda area.
The government’s decision to raise heavily subsidised fuel prices from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a liter in July has caused anger in Angola, one of Africa’s top oil producers where many people live in poverty.
“We are tired ... they must announce something for things to change ... for us to live in better conditions,” a protester told Angola’s TV Nzinga.
“Why do you make us suffer like this? How will we feed our children? The prices have to go down,” a woman said, addressing President Joao Lourenco.
Police reported “a few isolated incidents of disorder” early Tuesday and said people involved “were repelled and continue to be repelled.”
“We currently report four deaths,” Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues told reporters in a briefing about Monday’s violence. He did not specify how they occurred.
Police rounded up 400 people overnight for suspected involvement in the unrest after arresting 100 on Monday, he said.
About 45 shops were vandalized, while 25 private vehicles and 20 public buses were damaged, he said. Banks were also targeted.
“We continue to stress that our forces are on the streets, equipped with the necessary resources based on the threat level, responding where order has been restored to maintain it, and intervening where there are still disturbances to reestablish public order and peace,” he said.
AFP photographs on Monday showed people running off with items looted from shops, while images posted on social media showed large crowds of protesters and, separately, police pushing back groups of people.
Local media reports said security forces had used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
A journalist in the city of Huambo, around 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Luanda, said there had also been looting and rioting there.
The New Alliance of Taxi Drivers Association (ANATA) distanced itself from Monday’s violence but said the three-day strike would continue.
It “has become clear that the voice of the taxi drivers reflects the outcry of the Angolan people,” the association said in a statement Tuesday.
Around 2,000 people demonstrated against the fuel hike on Saturday, with protests also held the previous two weekends.
Human Rights Watch said police had used excessive force in the July 12 protest, including firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
In a joint statement on Monday, civil society groups condemned the July 19 arrest of one of the organizers of the protests, Osvaldo Sergio Correia Caholo.
He was a “victim of the oppression in Angola, where freedoms and fundamental guarantees are constantly being trampled upon,” they said.
The protests were a “direct consequence” of the government’s failure to address unemployment, high living costs and a decline in public services, the Uyele civic group said.
It is “urgent to understand that we are facing a serious symptom: the social exhaustion of a youth with no alternatives,” it said in a statement.
Lourenco’s MPLA party has ruled Angola, which has a population of around 33 million, since its independence from Portugal in 1975.
