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The southern African nation of Angola was attempting to restore calm on Thursday after a hike in fuel prices led to violent street clashes between residents and security forces, leaving at least 29 dead and 250 injured, the government said.
The upheaval started Monday when a taxi association launched a three-day strike to protest the government’s decision in early July to increase gasoline prices by a third. The situation escalated over two days into vandalism and the burning of buildings and cars, with the police responding by firing on angry crowds, according to witnesses.
This was the second time in two years that an increase in gas prices has led to deadly violence in Angola, the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. The abundance of the commodity and heavy government subsidies have long allowed Angolans to pay very low prices at the gas pump. But with the economy struggling, the government, straining under enormous debt, has rolled back the subsidies in recent years at the urging of the International Monetary Fund.
“Obviously, people were in the street about the prices,” said Romario Francisco, 18, who lives on the outskirts of the capital, Luanda. “But it became something crazy since.”
While order had been restored to Luanda and several other cities by Thursday, the mood remained tense in some places.
Many police officers were still out patrolling roads. Charred vehicles sat on some streets. Shards of glass and goods were scattered on sidewalks and inside shops and other buildings that had been looted during the chaos.
The increase in gas prices to $1.65 a gallon, from about $1.25, has also increased the cost of food, as it becomes more expensive to transport goods to supermarkets. Taxi fares have also shot up and could now consume more than 60 percent of a low-wage worker’s salary, said Carlos Rosado de Carvalho, a professor at Catholic University in Angola.
That “was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said. “A minimum wage worker practically works to pay for transportation.”
Government officials have blamed the violence on instigators seeking to undermine stability in the country. But some witnesses said the police and military responded with a violent crackdown that, in some instances, led to the deaths of innocent people.
The woman, who died, was identified by family and friends as Ana Mubiala, a wife and mother of six who was in her 30s and worked as an informal street vendor. Relatives, friends and family gathered inside the family’s home on Thursday to pay their respects. The crowd of mourners grew so large at one point that it spilled out onto the street.
Ms. Mubiala had gone outside to look for her son when she was killed, said Francisco da Costa, a neighbor. “It is so sad that our neighbor was shot dead,” he said.
Many Angolans remain anxious about what will happen next.
Mateus Loki, 27, said he did not think the government would back down from the fuel price increase and that there would likely be more protests.
“The police are moving around, hunting down the protesters and clearly sending out a message,” he said. “Anyone who dares to come out and protest again, they will be killed.”
- Sanjana Varghese contributed reporting from London.
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