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| Congo authorities ban demonstrations after two policemen killed | Congo authorities ban demonstrations after two policemen killed |
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| Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have banned an opposition demonstration after two policemen died in clashes with protesters calling for President Joseph Kabila to step down. | Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have banned an opposition demonstration after two policemen died in clashes with protesters calling for President Joseph Kabila to step down. |
| Police had fired teargas to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing opposition supporters in Kinshasa on Monday as they tried to march on parliament ahead of a planned mass demonstration to demand that Kabila quit power when his mandate runs out in December. | Police had fired teargas to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing opposition supporters in Kinshasa on Monday as they tried to march on parliament ahead of a planned mass demonstration to demand that Kabila quit power when his mandate runs out in December. |
| A government spokesman, Lambert Mende, said that two policemen were killed in violence against the ruling party office in Kinshasa’s volatile Limete area. | A government spokesman, Lambert Mende, said that two policemen were killed in violence against the ruling party office in Kinshasa’s volatile Limete area. |
| A Catholic nun said one of the policemen had been burnt alive. | A Catholic nun said one of the policemen had been burnt alive. |
| “We have now banned the demonstration,” Mende said, accusing the opposition of “targeted looting”. “These are people who had prepared to create total disorder,” he said. | |
| Earlier youths shouting “Kabila get out” threw stones at police on a main avenue in the heart of the city of some 10 million residents. | Earlier youths shouting “Kabila get out” threw stones at police on a main avenue in the heart of the city of some 10 million residents. |
| Tyres burned and plumes of smoke rose from a burning car and minibus. | Tyres burned and plumes of smoke rose from a burning car and minibus. |
| The demonstrators waved the blue-and-white flags of the veteran Congolese opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi, 83, whose movement had called for nationwide protests to demand that Kabila steps down on schedule. | The demonstrators waved the blue-and-white flags of the veteran Congolese opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi, 83, whose movement had called for nationwide protests to demand that Kabila steps down on schedule. |
| Kabila, who has the ruled mineral-rich DRC since 2001, is banned under the constitution from running for a third term, but he has given no sign of intending to give up his job. | Kabila, who has the ruled mineral-rich DRC since 2001, is banned under the constitution from running for a third term, but he has given no sign of intending to give up his job. |
| Before the clashes, opposition activists burnt a giant poster of the president bearing a message appealing for the two sides to reach a solution to the political crisis through dialogue. | Before the clashes, opposition activists burnt a giant poster of the president bearing a message appealing for the two sides to reach a solution to the political crisis through dialogue. |
| Youths were blocking traffic on Lumumba boulevard, a main artery, letting only journalists through. | Youths were blocking traffic on Lumumba boulevard, a main artery, letting only journalists through. |
| A diplomatic source reported further clashes in several places on the road to the capital’s airport. | A diplomatic source reported further clashes in several places on the road to the capital’s airport. |
| France has urged Congolese authorities to ensure that any delay in holding the next presidential election was as short as possible, and called on the government to respect “public liberties, especially the right to demonstrate peacefully”. | France has urged Congolese authorities to ensure that any delay in holding the next presidential election was as short as possible, and called on the government to respect “public liberties, especially the right to demonstrate peacefully”. |
| Kinshasa was eerily quiet and schools were deserted in several districts, with parents preferring to keep their children home for safety, and many shops were closed. | Kinshasa was eerily quiet and schools were deserted in several districts, with parents preferring to keep their children home for safety, and many shops were closed. |
| The country’s second biggest city, Lubumbashi, was similarly tense, with soldiers and police out in force around public buildings and opposition neighbourhoods. | The country’s second biggest city, Lubumbashi, was similarly tense, with soldiers and police out in force around public buildings and opposition neighbourhoods. |
| Protests erupted after the constitutional court ruled in May that Kabila, who took power after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated, could remain in office in a caretaker capacity beyond his mandate. | Protests erupted after the constitutional court ruled in May that Kabila, who took power after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated, could remain in office in a caretaker capacity beyond his mandate. |
| No elections have been announced and it is doubtful that a poll could be organised before the end of the year. | No elections have been announced and it is doubtful that a poll could be organised before the end of the year. |
| Tshisekedi, who returned to DRC in July after a two-year absence, is an immensely popular figure who emerged as a leading dissenting voice as far back as the 1980s, when he was a critic of the military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. | Tshisekedi, who returned to DRC in July after a two-year absence, is an immensely popular figure who emerged as a leading dissenting voice as far back as the 1980s, when he was a critic of the military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. |
| He has now accomplished the rare feat of uniting the Congolese opposition, which has never before managed to forge a common front against Kabila, who beat Tshisekedi in the last presidential election in 2011. | He has now accomplished the rare feat of uniting the Congolese opposition, which has never before managed to forge a common front against Kabila, who beat Tshisekedi in the last presidential election in 2011. |