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At least 100 people were detained after violent weekend anti-government protests in the Angolan capital Luanda, a senior government official announced on Sunday.
Riot police fired tear gas and beat the protesters to break up the demonstrations that drew some 2,000 people.
The protesters set up barricades along the roads using dump trucks, boulders, tree trunks and burning tires.
Others set fire to a national flag, an AFP photographer saw.
But dozens of protesters, including journalists covering the demonstrations, were arrested.
Interior Ministry Secretary Salvador Rodrigues said on state television that 103 people, including politicians from the largest opposition party UNITA, were in detention.
They were to appear in court on Monday.
Rodrigues said that six policemen were injured during the protests.
He also said that a police motorcycle, a car, an ambulance and a fire truck were damaged or burned during protests that took place in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of the coastal capital Luanda.
The demonstrations were to demand a new date for the local government elections that were due to take place this year, but which have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Civil society groups called the protests that were also organized to demand employment and better living conditions.
In a statement Sunday, the main opposition, UNITA, accused the police of using excessive force to quell the protests and demanded the “unconditional release” of all those detained.
UNITA “denounces and condemns the arrest and beating of protesters by the National Police, which caused chaos in the street …, which was avoidable if the march was prosecuted without police brutality.”
The protests on Saturday were the latest show of disenchantment with the Angolan government in recent months.
