Africa: Fuel hike sees massive protests in Angola, 22 killed, including a police officer

At least 22 people have died in Angola after two days of violent protests and looting sparked by a fuel price hike. The unrest, led by striking taxi drivers, marks one of the worst episodes of public disorder in years.

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Two days of unrest and looting in Angola during a protest against a fuel price hike claimed the lives of 22 people, the government said Wednesday, as a tense calm returned to the capital.

Violence erupted on Monday, the first day of a strike called by taxi drivers to protest the July 1 increase in fuel costs in the oil-rich nation where millions live in poverty.

It was some of the worst unrest in several years in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which has been governed by the MPLA party since 1975.

Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police.

“We regret 22 deaths, including one police officer,” Interior Minister Manuel Homem told reporters on the sidelines of a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Joao Lourenco.

Nearly 200 people were injured in the violence, he said, and more than 1,200 people had been arrested.

People raided supermarkets and warehouses, making off with food and other supplies, and causing damage to 66 shops, Homem said.

The streets of Luanda were tense and largely empty Wednesday, although there were some queues outside petrol stations and some shops, AFP reporters said. There was a heavy presence of security forces.

Many shops remained closed, but public transport slowly resumed after a two-day standstill.

With the protests having spread outside the capital, a statement after the ministers’ meeting said vandalism and rioting had “triggered a climate of widespread insecurity”.

It said “elements with criminal intentions” had turned the demonstration into a “threat to security”.

Police in the southern city of Lubango confirmed separately that a police officer had shot and killed a 16-year-old on Tuesday. He was part of a group attempting to invade the local headquarters of the ruling MPLA party, a statement said.