Eight democracy activists were
arrested in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday before a planned
demonstration against the delay of the presidential election, fellow activists
said.
President Joseph Kabila has ruled
Congo since 2001 and is required by the constitution to step down in December.
But the ruling coalition and part of the opposition agreed this month to delay
the vote to pick his successor from this November to April 2018, citing
problems enrolling millions of voters.
Eight members of youth activist
group Struggle for Change (Lucha) were arrested in the eastern city of Goma as
they prepared to hold a sit-in near the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping
mission, Lucha said in a statement.
Six other Lucha members were
arrested in Goma on Monday for distributing tracts on a university campus
calling for peaceful protests and three more who went to check on them on
Tuesday were arrested too, the statement added.
A police spokesman confirmed
Wednesday's arrests, which he said were for troubling public order. He said the
public prosecutor would bring charges on Thursday of troubling public order and
spying on police against the nine arrested on Monday and Tuesday.
The government released more than a
dozen activists, including several Lucha members, in July and August in an
attempt to appease the opposition and ease negotiations over the election
timetable.
But the main opposition bloc
boycotted the talks and violent demonstrations in the capital Kinshasa last
month killed dozens. A U.N. report last week said security forces killed at
least 48 civilians.
In its own report, the government
denied that security forces were responsible for the deaths, which it blamed on
the protesters themselves, private security guards and accidents.
-Reuters
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