3rd January, 2018
The EU and the Catholic Church on Wednesday criticised Congolese security forces for the killing of five anti-government protesters in Kinshasa on New Year’s Eve.
The EU criticised what it called excessive violence during the action, also noting its concern that the internet was, at times, shut down during the operation.
The UN had previously estimated that five died and 120 were detained during the unrest.
Cardinal Laurent Pasinya, the archbishop of Kinshasa, went further, terming the government actions as “barbarism.”
Pasinya decried the fact that members of the security forces had used violence against protesters, who had been called to the streets by Catholic officials.
He noted that police officers disrupted services, deployed tear gas against people worshipping and fired bullets at churchgoers and statues of the cross and the Virgin Mary.
“We can only decry the behaviour of our good men in uniform,” he wrote.
“It amounts to nothing more and nothing less than barbarism.”
He said the police must now exercise restraint, or else risk losing the trust of the rest of the people.
President Joseph Kabila has come in for growing criticism since his term of office expired in 2016.
The Catholic Church has backed negotiations that would have paved the way for new elections at the end of 2017, but those have been postponed, with ever new conditions being set.
The current plan is for a vote by the end of the year.