Media Wire Express Correspondent
Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse a protest by opposition supporters in the capital Kinshasa calling for a re-run of last week’s chaotic presidential and legislative elections.
The disputed vote threatens to further destabilize Congo, which is already grappling with a security crisis in the east that has hampered development in the world’s top producer of cobalt and other industrial minerals and metals.
Opposition candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s chaotic presidential election embarked on a protest march in the capital on Wednesday, despite authorities banning the protest and early results showing the incumbent with a large lead.
Martin Fayulu, one of the main challengers to President Felix Tshisekedi in the Dec. 20 election, said in an interview that the opposition candidates who had called the joint demonstration over alleged election irregularities would proceed with the march because they were convinced the vote was a fraud.
“We are going to protest because we can’t accept another electoral coup d’etat,” Fayulu told Reuters by telephone.
He was speaking hours after Vice Prime Minister Peter Kazadi said the march had no legal basis and was aimed at undermining the work of the election commission which was still compiling results.
“No government in the world can accept this, so we will not let it happen,” Kazadi told a news conference, adding that the opposition should wait for the full results rather than protest.
Police surrounded the headquarters of one of the incumbent’s main challengers, Martin Fayulu, where protesters were meant to gather for a scheduled start time of 0900 GMT. Some were in riot gear while others held rifles.
There was no immediate sign of large crowds gathering amid the heavy security presence. But some protesters tried to block roads with burning tires before police intervened with tear gas. People around Fayulu’s headquarters also threw rocks at the police, who retaliated in kind.
President Tshisekedi “did not win the election, his victory is fraudulent,” one protester who gave his name as Jean-Pierre said outside the building.
Government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said the demonstration was banned and that police were taking necessary security measures. In a sign of tension elsewhere, supporters of a local candidate, who appeared to be losing, briefly blocked roads and disrupted traffic with burning tires in the eastern city of Butembo, before dispersing.
