DR Congo Policeman Killed As Muslim Groups Clash

Kinshasa, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2021 ) :A policeman was killed in DR Congo's capital Kinshasa Thursday, the regional government said, as rival Muslim groups fought over the right to mark the end of Ramadan at a major sports stadium.

"Although leaders of the two rival wings of the Muslim community had guaranteed to the governor of Kinshasa that they would celebrate the end of Ramadan together, unfortunately a policeman was killed in clashes," spokesman Charles Mbutamuntu said.

He added that several people were hurt and one police vehicle was burned in the fighting outside the Martyrs' Stadium.

Kinshasa police chief Sylvano Kasongo said around 40 people were hurt and 35 had been arrested.

A video published on social media, confirmed to AFP as authentic by people who were present at the scene, showed a policeman lying face-down and motionless in a pool of his own blood on the road.

Tyres had been piled on top of the man and people surrounded him, some chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest).

Two rival factions have for years disputed the leadership of the DRC's Comico Muslim federation.

While the case remains before the courts, the two sides remain at odds and occasionally come to blows.

Around 10 percent of the DRC's population are Muslim, most concentrated in the country's east.

But Kinshasa on the Congo river in the west of the vast central African country also traditionally sees mass celebrations for the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in public squares and on major roads.