At Least 22 Killed at Angola Fuel Price Hike Protests, Authorities Say

At least 22 people were killed and 197 others were injured in violence that erupted during protests against a fuel price hike this week, Angola’s government has said. The unrest broke out on Monday when minibus taxi associations launched a three-day strike against a government decision to increase the price of diesel by one-third, part of efforts to curb costly subsidies and shore up public finances. Looting, vandalism and clashes with police started in the capital, Luanda, and then spread to six other provinces. Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police. President Joao Lourenco’s cabinet met on Wednesday and received an update on the security situation and police response. … Authorities have often been accused of clamping down harshly on protests to silence dissent in Angola, an oil-rich nation on Africa’s Atlantic coast where the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party has been in power for 50 years – since independence from Portugal in 1975. Al Jazeera