Africa-Press – Angola. The Justice, Peace and Democracy Association (AJPD) today urged affected citizens in Luanda to file a complaint against the Angolan state for failing to guarantee the safety of their property, which was vandalized following the taxi drivers’ strike.
For AJPD, an Angolan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) for the defense and promotion of human rights, the peaceful strike declared by taxi drivers since Monday “is legitimate” and deserves solidarity from all citizens.
The taxi drivers’ “peaceful strike,” called by the class associations and now in its second day, marked by looting, barricades, ransacking of commercial establishments and acts of violence, “is a form of social pressure and a way to draw the executive’s attention to the austerity measures imposed on the people.”
Responsibility for the acts of vandalism and disorder that occurred during the strike “should not, in any way”, be attributed to the National Association of Taxi Drivers of Angola (ANATA), which has already distanced itself from the scenes of vandalism.
The NGO considers it serious that the public administration, “in an omission and negligent manner”, has not guaranteed and ensured the protection of the integrity of public and private property, thus allowing acts of looting and vandalism that occurred during the taxi drivers’ strike.
The organization even calls on traders and other injured parties to consider taking civil liability action against the State “for failing in its duty to guarantee the protection and security of their assets.”
At least four people died and more than 500 were arrested following protests in Luanda, according to the spokesman for the General Command of the Angolan Police, Mateus Rodrigues, who announced today.
The AJPD also called on the Angolan Bar Association to ensure that taxi drivers and other detained citizens see their rights respected and even called for a “serious and enlightening” parliamentary debate regarding the poverty in which the Angolan people live.
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