Africa-Press – Angola. The National Assembly (AN) approved, this Thursday, in general, the Bill on Freedom of Assembly and Demonstration, with 172 votes in favour, none against and an equal number of abstentions.
This is the first legislative initiative of the opposition approved in general, by the hemicycle, prepared by the Parliamentary Group of UNITA.
Approved during the 7th Extraordinary Session of the 1st Legislative Session of the V Legislature of the National Assembly, the diploma, with 20 articles, intends to revoke Law no 16/91, of 11 May – Law on the Right to Assembly and Demonstration, currently in force .
According to the proponent, this diploma intends to regulate freedom of assembly and demonstration as a guarantee right within the framework of fundamental rights.
It also intends to define the rights related to the exercise of the right to freedom of assembly and demonstration, prohibiting the presence and participation of military and militarized forces – in uniform or in civilian clothes – in meetings of a political nature and in any type of demonstration.
Likewise, it establishes specific and reasonable limits both for the exercise of the right to demonstrate and for preventing it.
It also describes the ban on carrying and using weapons in meetings and public or private demonstrations and typifies the abuses, crimes and sanctions that protesters, police agents and other interveners may incur.
Freedom of assembly is the freedom or right that people have to assemble in groups, meetings, clubs, demonstrations, parades, rallies or any other organization they desire.
It is considered a fundamental right in democratic regimes, where citizens can form or join political parties, civic associations or trade unions without governmental or administrative restrictions.
Freedom of expression, on the other hand, consists of the possibility for citizens to gather together on public roads without weapons, to freely express a feeling, opinion, message or protest through their physical presence, the use of their voice, which may include gestures, flags, emblems, insignias, slogans, songs, shouts, acclamations, among other forms, without, however, excluding the possibility of resorting to silence.
After approval of the Draft Law on Freedom of Assembly and Demonstration, parliamentarians will now analyze it in detail and only after its approval will it be submitted for final global approval.
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