The MP Genoveva Lino Friday in Luanda praised the spirit of revolt showed by the peasants of Baixa de Kassanje, northwestern Malanje province, as that led to the beginning of the liberation struggle towards independence of the country.

Speaking to ANGOP, on the occasion of the celebrations of the January 4, the Baixa de Kassanje massacre day, the MP said that thanks to the courage and determination of those heroes people today live in peace.

She explained that the January 4 will never be forgotten, despite the fact that it has become a just national celebration day, in the light of the Law on National Holidays, as it remembers all patriotic Angolans who fell in the massacre of cotton peasants.

According to Genoveva Lino, efforts are being made towards writing nd publishing books on the epics and other dates, so that the new generations learn the remarkable facts that the country experienced.

On 4 January 1961, the Portuguese colonial regime massacred thousands of Angolan peasants, including children, in the locality of Baixa de Kassanje, Malanje province, over a demand for an end to slave labour in cotton plantations.