The protests were organised by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December.
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On September 16, police in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi fired teargas and, later, live bullets to disperse opposition party members who were meeting to prepare the September 19 protests.
Then, on Sunday, Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, was “verbally attacked” at an airport in Congo’s capital city of Kinshasa by a member of Kabila’s ruling party.
Instead, Clark thinks that Kabila will continue to crack down on the opposition and move to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term, which could lead to more violence.
A Reuters witness saw two charred bodies inside the burnt-out offices of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), Congo’s main opposition party, next to empty gasoline cans.
At least 17 people were killed in Monday’s clashes, including three police officers who were burnt alive, said Interior Minister Evariste Boshab.
Georges Kapiamba, director of local NGO the Congolese Association For Access to Justice, said that security forces shot dead seven protesters.
The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never experienced a peaceful transition of power.
“The Rassemblement regrets the many victims, more than 50 at this stage”, the group said in an e-mailed statement.
On Thursday, Kinshasa said it was surprised by accusations levelled by Amnesty International that it is overseeing “systematic repression”, saying that in August the authorities has freed several political prisoners.
The government said three of those dead are security personnel. The demonstrators waved the blue-and-white flags of veteran DRC opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 83, whose UDPS movement had called for nationwide protests on Monday.
The country’s electoral commission had requested the constitutional court to consider postponing the November elections billed for Friday, as preparations could not be completed in time.
The protests came amid increasing local and worldwide pressure on Kabila to step down when his mandate ends in December.
The spokesman of the government, Lambert Mende, said the violence forced the authorities to ban the demonstration.
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State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was “disappointed” by the election commission’s failure to set a date and “deeply alarmed” by the violence.
