Angola Police on Standby as Hundreds Attend Activist's Funeral

Angolan police on Wednesday mobilized water cannons and helicopters to try to stop the funeral of an opposition activist killed by security services at the weekend, an Agence France Presse journalist saw.

Nearly 1,000 mourners, mostly supporters of the opposition Casa party, converged in downtown Luanda for a funeral procession to a cemetery on the outskirts of the capital.

But after walking for 15 minutes, police armed with two water cannons and backed by two helicopters briefly stopped the procession, before finally letting it proceed.

"We're here to bury with dignity our martyr, our colleague Hilbert Ganga," said Lindo Bernardo Tito, one of the vice-presidents of Casa, the country's second largest opposition party.

"It's not only Casa activists who are here but also ordinary citizens and representatives of other opposition parties," added Tito.

Some of the mourners wore t-shirts with the inscription: "We ask that justice be done".

Casa says Ganga was killed after he was detained for putting up posters near the presidential palace in Luanda on Saturday.

Police expressed regret for their actions but said they had been forced to shoot Ganga when he tried to escape from custody.

Wednesday's funeral is the first big opposition gathering since the August 2012 general elections and is seen as a show of growing opposition to the administration of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.

In the past two years, young Angolans have become increasingly critical of Dos Santos, who was last year re-elected for a further five years after 33 years at the head of the oil-rich nation.