Black-clad riot police fired tear gas and beat demonstrators with batons as thousands protested delays to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first postwar presidential elections. The United Nations said at least six died in violence nationwide.
Several thousand demonstrators carrying white banners of the main opposition party marched toward Parliament in the capital Kinshasa, fists held high and waving palm branches.
They were met by a phalanx of riot police, who fired volleys of tear gas and gave chase as the crowds scattered.
Dozens of police armed with Kalashnikovs raced into the surrounding neighbourhoods, dragging out demonstrators and beating them with batons. The empty boulevard was littered with shoes left by demonstrators who fled police and tear gas.
As police gave chase to fleeing demonstrators, gunshots rang out from the narrow streets, but it was unclear who was firing the shots.
Quoting hospital sources, United Nations spokesperson Kemal Saiki said one person had been killed in Kinshasa and seven others wounded. Two more demonstrators were killed and 12 wounded in clashes between police and demonstrators in the central diamond-mining town of Mbuji-Mayi, an opposition stronghold.
Another three were killed and 10 wounded in another mining town Tshikapa, he said.
Opposition spokesperson Jean-Baptist Bomanza alleged that government security forces had killed 10 people in Kinshasa, among them a 75-year old man, and that 100 died in violence throughout the DRC. Bomanza also reported 200 arrests in Kinshasa and 500 detentions in other cities.
His account — which threatened to further aggravate tensions — couldn’t be independently verified.
Police spokesperson Henriette Kitoko confirmed five demonstrators were wounded, three seriously, and taken to the hospital.
Kitoko said she could not confirm any reports of protesters arrested or killed.
Heavy gunfire broke out Thursday in the eastern city of Goma, near the Rwanda border, said UN spokesperson Jaqueline Chenard.
The gunfire erupted after a disagreement between two groups of government soldiers, said Chenard. Residents told the United Nations two soldiers had been killed, she said.
An Associated Press photographer in Goma saw one dead soldier. In London, a protest by hundreds of people demanding political change in the DRC shut down a major London thoroughfare near Prime Minister Tony Blair’s residence.
Hundreds of Congolese protesters also gathered in the capital of Belgium, the former colonial power. Police detained 20 demonstrators and used a water cannon to disperse a rally in Brussels.
In Kinshasa, UN peacekeepers were patrolling the capital in armoured vehicles and by helicopter, said Saiki. The world body — whose largest mission is in the DRC — has also dispatched 60 human rights officials around the capital, along with unarmed military observers, Saiki said.
As police scattered demonstrators, several UN armoured vehicles rolled though the haze of tear gas, with dozens of protesters gave chase, pumping their fists and waving palm branches.
The police near Parliament were being observed by several French police belonging to the European Union, who are in the DRC training government police.
Police had arrested at least 100 people in front of Parliament in a span of two hours, said one of the EU policemen.
Those who were arrested were corralled in an empty field near Kinshasa’s soccer stadium. Several policemen in sunglasses leaned against a .50 machine gun positioned in the tall grass, its barrel trained down the boulevard.
Two Associated Press journalists were also briefly detained by the police, who stole camera equipment and money.
The demonstrations were called by the DRC’s main opposition party, Union for Democracy and Social Progress, who are protesting a delay in the DRC’s long-awaited presidential elections, which were scheduled to take place on Thursday, according to a 2003 agreement made by government and rebels at the end of the DRC’s devastating five-year war.
Earlier this month, lawmakers extended the country’s two-year transitional government — which also officially ended June 30 — and promised elections next year.
Voter registration began June 20, with over 100 000 people in Kinshasa having registered so far, election officials say.
However, many feel the progress isn’t enough, accusing the government of dragging its feet in order to cling to power.
”The government promised us on June 30 elections would be organised. We’ve waited and now the transition is over,” said Joseph Tshibala, a local opposition party leader speaking near Parliament.
”Congolese people are protesting against this system that’s been imposed on us. We must put an end to this.”
Thursday also marked the DRC’s 45th anniversary of independence from Belgium. While protests erupted in several areas of the capital, other parts were quiet, with crowds of children playing soccer in the empty streets.
Deadly protests also broke out in January when election officials first mentioned a possible election delay. Several demonstrators were killed when police randomly opened fire into crowds. – Sapa-AP