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Looting and acts of vandalism erupted in Luanda on Monday as taxi drivers launched a strike to protest against increased fuel prices, marking the latest in a series of demonstrations over the government’s subsidy reforms.
The Angolan government, which oversees Africa’s second-largest oil-producing nation, raised the price of heavily subsidised petrol from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) per litre on 1 July.
Photographs taken by AFP showed people fleeing with goods looted from shops in the capital, while videos shared on social media depicted large crowds of protesters and separate scenes of police attempting to disperse demonstrators.
In one widely circulated clip, a protester appeared to try to set fire to a billboard bearing the image of President João Lourenço.
According to a statement by the Luanda provincial government, the city witnessed “acts of intimidation and violence, with attacks on vehicles circulating on public roads.” The statement also condemned what it described as “vandalism, attacks on workers, destruction of public and private property.”
JA Online reported that groups of young people set tyres ablaze and targeted public buses and private vehicles in Camama, a suburb of Luanda.
On Saturday, around 2,000 people took to the streets to voice their opposition to the fuel price hike, following similar protests held over the past two weekends.
President Lourenço’s MPLA party has governed Angola since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
