7/19/2025–|Last update: 02:50 (Mecca time)
“The Angolan police used excessive force and carried out arbitrary arrests while dispersing a peaceful demonstration in the capital, Luanda, on July 12,” said Human Rights Watch on Friday.
The organization added, in a statement, that the Angolan police fired tear gas and rubber bullets “without justification, and assaulted the demonstrators, which resulted in the injury of a number of them.”
“Rights Watch” also accused the Angola police of arresting 17 demonstrators, who were released only after legal intervention.
The organization called on the government to open an “urgent and neutral investigation into the use of force and those arrests, and to hold those responsible for it, regardless of their ranks.”
“The Angolan should be able to peacefully protest against government policies without being faced with excessive violence and violations of their basic rights,” said Ashwan Bodo-Chulzz, Deputy Director of the African Department at Human Rights Watch.
Schultz added that the government is required to conduct a “neutral investigation and accountable for those who committed these violations”, and considered that the police use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators reflects a “deeper problem within the security services in Angola.”
The government demanded that comprehensive reforms be adopted and ensured their implementation to ensure the police respect the law and to hold officials accountable when violating the rights of the demonstrators.
Hundreds of Angolan had participated in the protest that started from the Sao Paulo neighborhood and was scheduled to end in a symbolic square in the center of Luanda.
Youth movements and civil society organizations called for demonstrating after the government’s decision to raise fuel prices and cancel public transportation without any public advice.
The police justified their intervention by saying that “the intervention was aimed at preserving the system and public calm, because the demonstrators did not abide by the agreed path.”
