The students have been trying to demonstrate since Monday morning after the murder on Friday of one of their comrades by a police officer. Two of the police officers involved were arrested, the third, the shooter, is on the run. But that was not enough to calm the students’ anger. There are clashes around the University of Kinshasa.
With our special correspondent in Kinshasa, Sonia Rolley
On Monday morning, collisions first broke out between the bullets, thugs from working-class neighborhoods and students trying to leave the campus. The bullets loaded, threw stones, dismantled the temporary barricades erected by the students and brought them back to the police side, which remained.
For the students, it is obvious that the bullets and the police worked together. The head of police operations present at the scene denied it and made sure to stay behind the bullets so as not to aggravate the situation. After dismissals on social networks and the media, the bullets disappeared and the police were in the front line.
There was a brief silence when the police agreed to release the arrested students. Until the police faced a river of rocks. The police protect themselves with shields, charge by throwing tear gas and withdraw regularly. This attitude is unbearable for the students. “They killed one of us, we should have the right to protest, we prevent it as in Kabila’s time, ”laments one of them. RFI could see that there was minor damage on both sides.
A reinforcement car arrived and the police were sent out without violence and released the axes. Traffic could be resumed at 2.30 pm local time. Students who have since been locked in classrooms around the university have been able to join their parents.
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