Africa-Press – Angola. The Angolan Journalists’ Union (SJA) condemned the detention of journalists who were covering a demonstration on Saturday in Luanda, considering that the police action inhibited the legal exercise of freedoms of the press and expression enshrined in law.
“Once again there were arrests, (which we see) with great concern because the arrest of journalists should not take place in a democratic State like ours, and, from a Constitutional point of view, demonstrations are permitted, the journalist goes there to cover the case, they were just working”, said today the secretary general of the SJA, Pedro Miguel.
Speaking to Lusa, Pedro Miguel condemned and criticized the police’s stance and said that the union has already requested hearings with the authorities, namely with the Minister of the Interior, the general commander of the police and the director of the Criminal Investigation Service to address the matter.
At least three journalists were arrested on Saturday by Angolan police in Luanda while covering a student demonstration, which was prevented by the authorities.
Journalists Jubileu Panda (TV Maiombe) and Hermenegildo Caculo (newspaper and TV F8) were arrested and Borralho Ndomba (DW Africa) was intimidated by the authorities, being forced to hand over his cell phone for inspection.
For the secretary-general of the SJA, the aforementioned arrests “once again tarnished the name of Angola”, even more so at a time when, he stressed, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in the country was coming to an end.
“This only makes us even sadder, it means that our country did not fare well,” he lamented. Pedro Miguel criticized the fact that the national police “forced” the professionals to hand over their work equipment, which he says shows that the authorities did not want the demonstration to be covered by the press.
“We are restricting citizens’ right to be informed, which means that unfortunately many rights are being violated,” he stressed, insisting on the need for the SJA to engage in dialogue with the police authorities and that the exercise of freedom of the press and expression is at stake.
“It is quite worrying,” concluded the union leader.
During the march, which was stopped by the police and never took place, almost fifty students were arrested and some were physically attacked when, with posters in their hands, they protested against the shortages in schools in the Angolan capital.
The detained students are due to be tried today by the Luanda District Court.
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