Liberation Movement Day (Angola)

Liberation Movement Day is a public holiday in Angola, and it is observed on February 4 each year. The holidays marks the start of the armed resistance to the Portuguese colonial rule in 1961.

Portuguese first established the Portuguese colony of Angola in 1575. The Dutch occupied Angola in 1641 during the Portuguese Restoration War, but the Portuguese took it back in 1648. Under almost 400 years of Portuguese rule, Angola suffered mass forced labor, racism and failed to be modernized, which led to the armed resistance fighting for independence in 1961.

In early 1961, the peasants working in a Portuguese-Belgian cotton company demanded better working conditions and payment, which later became the Baixa de Cassanje revolt. The workers burned their identification cards and attacked Portuguese traders. On February 4, 1861, the Portuguese military brutally suppressed the rebellion by bombing villages, which caused hundreds of people died. On the same day, the militants attacked one police station and São Paulo prison in Luanda attempting to free the political prisoners.

February 4, 1961 marked the start of the Angolan Independence War, which lasted till on November 11, 1975, when Angola finally gained its independence from Portugal.

The following is the list of Liberation Movement Day in Angola from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in Angola: