DR Congo Police Arrest Nine In More Anti-Kabila Protests
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published October 31, 2017 | 06:55 PM
Police in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni said they had arrested nine demonstrators during a march Tuesday against President Joseph Kabila
Goma, DR Congo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2017 ) :Police in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni said they had arrested nine demonstrators during a march Tuesday against President Joseph Kabila, a day after clashes in the region that left five dead.
The nine were "from Lucha," said Lisangi Nkumu, Beni's deputy police chief, referring to a pro-democracy group, Struggle for Change, which is campaigning for Kabila to leave office. "They were demonstrating on the public highway without authorisation," he said.
"They are being interviewed and will be handed over to the appropriate authorities." Lucha campaigner Regina Masinda told AFP that the police intervened shortly after the start of the march and "brutally" manhandled demonstrators who had their hands in the air and had sat down on the ground.
"Nine of us were arrested," Masinda said. "We demand their release.
" On Monday, clashes in the nearby city of Goma left four civilians and a policeman dead, an AFP reporter said. Twenty-eight people were arrested, two of them women, the police for North Kivu province said.
Political tensions in the DRC are high after Kabila failed to step down on the expiry of his second and final term last December. Elections were due to take place this year under a transitional deal reached last New Year's Eve with the help of the Roman Catholic church.
But the country's electoral commission says there will no vote before early 2019, mainly because of the problems of completing an electoral roll in the troubled central region of Kasai. The uncertainty has stoked fears of a fresh eruption of political violence in a vast, poor country already struggling with ethnic divisions and fighting in its east.
Demonstrations have been banned or widely repressed since September 2016.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results - 1st update
Swiatek's perfect 10 in Stuttgart as Vondrousova stuns Sabalenka
Arandu's roads closed due to flooding
Oil tanker catches fire in Islamabad’s Blue Area
Pakistan committed to ensure safety of foreign nationals: FO
Tennis: WTA Stuttgart results - 1st update
Four passengers injured as train hit an empty vehicle
Over- speeding bus crushed to death two bike riders
Turkey's Freedom Flotilla ready to set sail for Gaza
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school
Iranians appear unfazed by Isfahan blasts
UAF celebrates Int'l Chinese Language Day
More Stories From World
-
Calls for calm after reported Israeli strike on Iran
11 minutes ago -
IMF calls on EU to deepen single market integration to boost growth
11 minutes ago -
Second Ecuadoran mayor killed ahead of anti-crime referendum: police
11 minutes ago -
Oil, gas drilling blocked in Alaska wilds as Biden seeks green cred
1 hour ago -
Man sets self on fire outside Trump trial
1 hour ago -
Turkey's Freedom Flotilla ready to set sail for Gaza
2 hours ago
-
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school
2 hours ago -
Iranians appear unfazed by Isfahan blasts
3 hours ago -
Ecuador mayor killed ahead of anti-crime referendum: police
3 hours ago -
Croatia top court bars president from becoming next PM
3 hours ago -
Lacking storm drains, Dubai sees persistent flooding
3 hours ago -
West Bank villagers vigilant but vulnerable after settler attacks
3 hours ago