Congo police break up demonstration
Riot police in Kinshasa, Congo, fired tear gas grenades to break up a protest today by hundreds of opposition party members demanding to take part in an election their leader had once wanted to boycott.
Some 500 loyalists of long-time opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi had gathered in front of Congo’s electoral commission headquarters, demanding to register. Registration was closed last year.
Tshisekedi, a veteran of Congo’s political scene, said last year he was boycotting war-battered Congo’s first elections in decades and called on followers not to register to vote.
Now he has changed his mind, but officials say they do not have enough time to register more voters for the June balloting. Riot cops fired tear gas grenades toward the crowd, scattering protesters.
Officials of Tshisekedi’s Democratic Union for Social Progress said police arrested dozens of protesters and injured 20. Police weren’t immediately available for comme
