Opposition leader Martin Fayulu had called on the government to abide by the constitution and for current President Joseph Kabila to step down on December 19.
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Congo’s government spokesman, Lambert Mende, condemned the burning of opposition party buildings as well as attacks on other buildings, including two ruling party buildings and a school, by opposition protesters.
Kabila’s opponents say the proposed delay is a maneuver to keep the president in power, after nearly completing his second term tenure.
With a tense environment inside the country, relations between the United States and Congo have become strained.
Congolese police on Monday clashed with protesters marching against what they claim is a bid by President Joseph Kabila to extend his mandate, killing at least 17 people and prompting a threat of further sanctions from the US.
The protests came after Congo’s largest opposition parties rejected a proposal that Kabila remain in power until elections are held.
The official tried to provoke Perriello into a physical confrontation, reports said.
Monday’s march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote.
Congo, Africa’s top copper producer, has never had a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. “There are also multiple people wounded at the hospital”, Felix Tshisekedi told Reuters.
They waved the blue-and-white flags of veteran Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 83, who returned to DR Congo in July after a two-year absence. “The people are angry”.
We are also deeply alarmed by reports of violence that occurred alongside civic protests today in Kinshasa, and which reportedly has already resulted in the deaths of protestors and police.
Private security officials also said there had been several looting incidents in the south of Kinshasa which targeted banks or Chinese-run shops.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Claude Pero Luwara says the protests have been banned following yesterday’s deadly clashes where a police officer was burnt alive.
Kabila, who has 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.
“Unfortunately, the pattern over the past year has been to dramatically reduce that open political space. We are meeting in a national dialogue in order to organize free and fair elections”, he told CNN.
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The US embassy in the DRC confirmed on Twitter that Perriello had been harassed at an airport in the central African country.
