"The protesters encountered ferocious resistance from the police,
which led to clashes and barricades being set up. Some demonstrators
were arrested. I don't know how many yet."
Protesters clash with Congo police over likely delay of November vote(Channel News Asia)
Demonstrators clashed with police in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday after opposition leaders called for a day of nationwide protest against President Joseph Kabila over indications that November elections will be postponed.
Security forces also fired tear gas at an opposition march in the capital Kinshasa, in the far west of the vast country.
Opposition
parties and civil society groups called for nationwide demonstrations
to protest against a May 11 ruling by Congo's highest court that would
allow the president to remain in power if elections due in November are
not held.
While a march that was authorised in
Kinshasa drew several thousand opposition supporters, demonstrations in
other cities were banned by local authorities.
In
Goma, eastern Congo's largest city, police fired tear gas at
stone-throwing protesters who burned tyres and blocked streets with
large rocks, according to local civic leader Thomas d'Acquin Mwiti, who
was present at the demonstration.
"The
protesters encountered ferocious resistance from the police, which led
to clashes and barricades being set up. Some demonstrators were
arrested. I don't know how many yet."
He said
he had also heard gunfire but could not determine who was shooting.
Other witness confirmed that clashes had occurred. Police officials in
Goma were not immediately reachable for comment.
Constitutional
term limits bar Kabila, in power since 2001, from running for a third
elected term. But the government has said the election to choose his
successor is likely to be delayed by budgetary and logistical obstacles.
Opposition
leaders, however, accuse Kabila of stalling the elections in order to
extend his rule, and Western nations including the United States have
warned him to stick to the electoral calendar.
Government officials have denied Kabila is seeking to cling to power.
"Kabila is one man. The republic will remain. This is not a monarchy," said Xavier Mdula, an unemployed middle-aged man who participated in the demonstration in Kinshasa.
While
the march began peacefully, security forces soon intervened, accusing
opposition supporters of straying from the approved route. When the
marchers continued to advance, police fired tear gas, scattering
protesters into side streets, before some attempted to continue the
demonstration along the previously agree upon route.
Calls to Kinshasa's police chief were not answered.
A
heavy deployment of riot police was visible in the streets of the
southern mining hub of Lubumbashi, where supporters of opposition
presidential candidate Moise Katumbi have repeatedly clashed with police
this month.
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