Teargas and checkpoints as DRC tries to stop anti-government protests
KINSHASA — Congolese police and soldiers on Sunday set up checkpoints across the capital Kinshasa and fired teargas at opposition supporters who had gathered outside a church to protest against President Joseph Kabila. Authorities ordered internet and SMS services to be cut following calls by Catholic activists for a protest march after Sunday mass. The activists are demanding that Kabila commit to not changing the constitution to stand for a third term and to release political prisoners. At the Notre Dame du Congo cathedral in Kinshasa’s Lingwala district, where opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi was attending mass, dozens of police and soldiers blocked the path of more than 100 opposition supporters as they prepared to try to march. Tshisekedi, however, who had backed the activists’ call to march, left the church in a vehicle, spurring angry shouts from the crowd, which said he was abandoning them. The police have banned demonstrations and said that all gatherings of more than fiv...
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