Angola: Reuters correspondent assaulted by police in attempted demo – Watch

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Angola: Reuters correspondent assaulted by police in attempted demo – Watch

8:41 CAT | 12 Nov 2020

Picture: Euronews

The Reuters correspondent in Angola was assaulted by the police on Wednesday and saw his work material destroyed during the attempted demonstration organised by young activists to demand better living conditions.

The information was given to Lusa by the journalist himself, who says he was detained for a few minutes by the police, although he was identified but released a few moments later.

“I was identified, I showed my pass, I raised my hands, yet they decided on aggression, they almost broke the camera and detained me for a few minutes,” said Lee Bogotá, who was left with marks on his body from the beatings.

Lee Bogotá was in the middle of the demonstration and tried to talk to the cops and after that he was attacked, and was left without photo and video cameras and microphone.

The incident took place in the Jumbo area, on Deolinda Rodrigues Avenue, the journalist also said, pointing out that he is now at the home of a family member, nearby, because the police were forcing him to follow the demonstrators, and he insisted on returning to the city.

“Only they made a barrier here at the roundabout and I couldn’t get through that barrier, luckily I have a cousin here and I’m at her house now,” he explained.

In the last demonstration attempt in Luanda, on 24 October, among the hundreds of demonstrators arrested were also six journalists, who were covering the demonstration. Some were released hours later and others two days later without any explanation about their arrests.

At the time, President João Lourenço regretted the situation stressing that he did not want to see any more cases of this kind happen.

Angola yesterday marked 45 years of the country’s independence, a bank holiday, in which a demonstration, organised by a group of young activists, was scheduled to take place in order to demand better living conditions and the setting of a date for the first local elections.

The government of Luanda province prohibited the demonstration, citing several reasons, one of which was non-compliance with the Presidential Decree on the state of public calamity, which prevents gatherings of more than five people in the streets, as a measure to prevent and combat the spread of Covid-19.

The police prevented the attempted demonstration and used force and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, with reports of injuries and some arrests.

Source: Lusa / Eurnonews