(Bloomberg) -- Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo blocked a series of opposition meetings in the capital on
Tuesday, saying the gatherings represented a threat to law and order. “The police dispersed meetings where people were gathering without the authorization of the government,” said police spokesman Mwana Mputu.
Presidential elections are scheduled for November, though the postponement of other votes in the election calendar and the need to revise the voters roll may delay voting. Congolese law does not require parties to get permission to
hold political meetings. Police said the organizers intended to encourage participants to stage future demonstrations against the government. “We could not allow these people to call on the population to revolt,” Mputu said.
The opposition says the meetings were peaceful and preventing them is part of a strategy by President Joseph Kabila
to quiet opponents and hold on to power. The opposition platform, the Front Citoyen, organized the meetings in different locations across Kinsaha to discuss the election process and to commemorate the death of 36 people during protests in the city in January 2015. Martin Fayulu, leader of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development, said his supporters were prevented from entering a meeting room in the district of Kaluka. Vital Kamerhe said members of his Union for a Congolese Nation were prevented from attending a meeting in Ngiri-Ngiri, where police blocked the road and told party members and media to leave. Kamerhe said that more than 50 opposition members were arrested at planned meetings. The police denied that arrests were made, saying they only dispersed people.
By Tom Wilson