CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Violence that erupted during protests this week in Angola sparked by the government's decision to raise the price of fuel killed at least 22 people while more than 1,200 have been arrested, the president's office said Wednesday.

The office of Angolan President Joao Lourenco released the death toll in a statement and said that 197 people were also injured in the two days of violence that began on Monday and spread from the capital, Luanda, to at least six other provinces in the southern African nation.

Authorities have often been accused of clamping down harshly on protests to silence dissent in Angola, an oil-rich nation on Africa's Atlantic coast where the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola party has been in power for 50 years -- since independence from Portugal in 1975.

Earlier this month, the government said it was removing subsidies on diesel and raising the price by more than 30%. That prompted minibus taxis, a common method of transport for Angolans, to hike their prices by as much as 50%.

Lourenco's office said dozens of shops were looted and vehicles were damaged in rioting by people angry at the price of fuel and the rising cost of living. The army was deployed to restore order as the riots "triggered a climate of widespread insecurity," the statement said.

It did not elaborate on how the people died.

Protests against the price hikes in Angola first erupted two weeks ago, when Human Rights Watch accused the police of excessive force against what was a largely peaceful demonstration. Police unnecessarily fired tear gas and rubber bullets and assaulted protesters in those demonstrations, the rights group said.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa