Looting and vandalism broke out in the Angolan capital Monday as the taxi industry began a strike over rising fuel prices in the latest of a series of protests over the measure.The government in Africa’s second-largest oil producer raised heavily subsidised gasoline prices from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a litre on July 1. AFP photographs showed people running off with items looted from shops in the capital, Luanda, while images posted on social media showed large crowds of protesters and, separately, police pushing back demonstrators. In one online post, a protester can be seen attempting to set alight a billboard carrying the image of President Joao Lourenco.The Luanda provincial government said there had been “acts of intimidation and violence, with attacks on vehicles circulating on public roads.” In a statement, it also condemned “vandalism, attacks on workers, destruction of public and private property”.JA Online media reported that groups of young people had burned tyres and attacked public buses and private vehicles in the Camama area outside the capital.Around 2,000 people demonstrated against the fuel hike on Saturday, with protests also held the previous two weekends.Lourenco’s MPLA party has ruled the Portuguese-speaking country since independence in 1975.Â
