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Angolan justice ordered the closure and seizure of all the temples of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) in Angola, with the closure process to be done “gradually,” a police source told Lusa.
“By order of the Public Ministry all the IURD temples in the national territory are seized and closed, except that the sealing process is being carried out gradually,” said the source, adding that there are 211 temples only in the Angolan capital. .
The IURD in Angola declared this Sunday a “surprise” with the order to close four of its temples during the service, adding that none of them was in the lot of seven buildings seized by the Attorney General’s Office in August and described the police operation. as “disproportionate and excessive”.
Speaking to Lusa, a police source said the temples are seized and will be closed. “Consequently, while the process is developing, they cannot maintain the services,” said the same source, adding that “so that no further doubts arise in this regard, the parties will be notified in the next few days to clarify the situation.”
This was the first weekend that religious services were resumed in Luanda since March, when the state of emergency was declared in Angola due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement sent to Lusa, the IURD said it was “surprised” by the arrival of the police to the temples of Kilamba, Estalagem, Km 30 and Samba, and that their closure was decreed, despite the fact that the agents are not ” armed with no mandate. ” or supporting documentation ”.
The IURD alleged that the police acted “in a truculent and excessive manner, surrounding members and faithful who, at that time, were exercising their right to freedom of worship” and emphasizes that there was no legal impediment or judicial order to prevent worship in those temples. , “Because they were not detained or sealed by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).”
In August, the Angolan PGR seized seven IURD temples in Luanda (Alvalade, Maculusso, Morro Bento, Patriota, Benfica, Cazenga and Viana), as part of a criminal case for alleged practices of crimes of criminal association, tax fraud and illicit export of capitals.
The IURD notes, in the same statement, that some bishops and pastors were transferred to a police station without knowing “the real reason for such an act,” having been released after making statements. According to the IURD, the agents will only have reported “that there was an ‘orientation’ that the Universal temples should not be open” and, therefore, they would be “in disobedience.”
The IURD has been embroiled in several controversies in Angola, after a group of dissidents left the Brazilian leadership in November last year. Tensions escalated in June with the seizure of temples by the reformist wing, meanwhile constituted in a Commission for the Reform of Angolan Pastors, with an exchange of mutual accusations about the practice of illegal acts.
The Angolans, led by Bishop Valente Bezerra, affirm that the decision to break with the Brazilian representation in Angola headed by Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, faithful to the founder Edir Macedo, was due to practices contrary to religion, such as the requirement to practice vasectomy. , castration. chemistry, racist practices, social discrimination, abuse of authority, as well as foreign currency evasion abroad.
The complaints are denied by IURD Angola, which, for its part, accuses dissidents of “xenophobic attacks” and attacks on shepherds and has also initiated legal proceedings against dissidents. IURD Angola previously accused Angolan judicial authorities of carrying out illegal arrests and undermining religious freedom.
At this time, several legal proceedings related to IURD Angola are ongoing in Angolan courts.
The conflict led to the opening of criminal cases in the PGR of Angola and rose to the diplomatic sphere, with the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, asking his counterpart João Lourenço for guarantees of protection of the Brazilian pastors and the patrimony of the Church, with the boss. The State of Angola promised “adequate treatment” of the matter in court.
