Without specifically mentioning last Thursday’s demonstration in Luanda demanding the release of 15 Angolan youths who were arrested in June, the ambassador noted that the Angolan constitution enshrined the right to protest and that Angolans “should protest when there is reason to do so”.

“But it (the constitution) also says that the freedom of speech and the freedom of information is limited by the right to a good name, honour and reputation, image and the right to the intimacy of private family”, he said.

The ambassador told Lusa that Angolan youths who are discontent “can protest” in the streets with a specific purpose and shout slogans, but “it is not civilised, it is not democratic that a protest is a moment of basic violence”.

“When you talk of political activists, it is a label that someone decided to give people who act outside the law. These youths, so called political activists as the Portuguese press calls them, are youths who acted illegally. Of course they were detained.

The Angolan attorney general said the group of 15 arrested on 20 June was preparing an attempt against the president in an alleged coup.