DR Congo Police Break Up Banned March In Kinshasa

Kinshasa, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2019 ) :Police in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa used teargas Sunday to break up an opposition march and blocked a car transporting former presidential candidate Martin Fayulu.

Another opposition figure, former prime minister Adolphe Muzito, was also in the car, an AFP journalist observed.

About 50 police officers surrounded the vehicle in the middle of a main thoroughfare, Boulevard Lumumba.

The two men emerged from the car to talk to Kinshasa police chief Sylvano Kasongo as some demonstrators tried to group around them.

On Saturday, DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi backed a decision to ban the march, pointing to violence that broke out last weekend.

Speaking in his first major interview since taking office early this year, Tshisekedi told French media: "We have the impression that there are some who confuse democracy with anarchy.

" Last Sunday, as opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba flew back into the country, police fired tear gas at rock-throwing protesters who targeted his convoy.

Sunday's march was called by Bemba and Fayulu, who maintains he was robbed of victory in the December 30 presidential election in the former Belgian colony.

Their Lamuka coalition said late Friday it would go ahead with the march to protest the constitutional court's invalidation of the election of about 20 opposition lawmakers.

Kasongo had warned that any gatherings of more than 10 people Sunday would be dispersed.

Fayulu accuses Tshisekedi, himself a longtime opposition leader, of being the "puppet" of his predecessor Joseph Kabila, whose party enjoys a majority in parliament.