20110926
Reuters
LISBON (Reuters) - Angolan police on Sunday blocked about 100 protesters from marching through the capital, said Portugal's state news agency, in the second youth rally in under a month demanding President Jose Eduardo dos Santos relinquish power after 32 years.

Portugal's Lusa news agency reported clashes between a group of unidentified civilians and journalists, resulting in damage to Portuguese state broadcaster RTP's camera equipment.

The youth protest in Africa's second-biggest oil producer followed Saturday's pro-government rally in Luanda organised by the ruling MPLA party, which Angolan state news agency Angop said gathered thousands in support of dos Santos.

Angop quoted Bento Bento, head of MPLA's Luanda branch, as saying on Saturday: "We, the people of Luanda, want democracy, but with civility, without trouble-making, we don't want insults or intrigue like so many who want to reach power not through democracy nor through elections."

Also a member of its powerful political bureau, Bento said earlier this month that opposition parties were planning a nationwide "national insurrection".

Political tension is rising in Angola ahead of elections planned for next year. Inspired by uprisings which toppled rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, Angola's youth movement has organised four rallies this year demanding dos Santos resign.

The demonstrations have not had the official support of the main opposition parties.

Sunday's rally urged the release of 18 protesters sentenced to up to three months in jail after a demonstration on September 3 ended in violent clashes, with injuries suffered by protesters, police officers and journalists.

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Lusa said the youths had planned to march on Sunday from Luanda's Santana cemetery to Independence Square, but were blocked by a police cordon ten minutes after setting off and told the route had not been authorised by the local government.

The country's main opposition party UNITA has called for the release of protesters arrested at previous demonstrations, while rights organisations, including New York-based Human Rights Watch, have urged the government to stop using force against demonstrators.

Dos Santos' MPLA party, which in 2002 won the 27-year civil war against UNITA and then gained 82 percent of the vote in the 2008 general election, has long been accused of mismanaging the country's oil revenues, avoiding public scrutiny and doing too little to fight corruption.

It has also been urged to combat poverty in a country where an estimated two-thirds of a population of 16.5 million people live on less than $2 per day.

Media reports earlier this month cited MPLA sources as saying dos Santos has selected Manuel Vicente, head of the country's national oil company Sonangol, to be his successor, but a party spokesman said no decision has been made on the matter yet.