Five people have been killed in central Angola after police opened fire on a group of taxi drivers and other demonstrators who were protesting high petrol prices after the government’s decision to reduce fuel subsidies.

“The city of Huambo is calm now. A stable public safety situation,” local police spokesman Martinho Cavito told AFP on Tuesday after the deadly clashes on Monday.

Police had said Monday that “it was not possible to avoid, regrettably, the death of 5 citizens and the injury of 8 others” following “the acts of violence and confrontation with the police forces”.

The protests came after the government announced subsidy cuts for petrol, which resulted in sharp fuel price hikes in the oil-rich southern African nation.

The decision also triggered protests led by the country’s largest opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in the country’s capital of Luanda last week.

The clashes by mainly taxi and motorbike drivers against security forces in Huambo, some 620 kilometres (385 miles) southeast of Luanda, began on Monday morning.

34 people have been arrested, the police said in the statement.

As a result of the protest, there has been a “shortage of taxi services” in Huambo, Cavito told AFP.

Angola is one of the largest oil exporters in Sub-Saharan Africa, alongside Nigeria.

The oil-dependent nation, which has announced efforts to diversify its economy, has been pressured by a decline in oil prices since 2014.

SOURCE:

Five killed in Angola in protests over fuel price | Business (news24.com)