According to the Congolese army, about six demonstrators and a policeman have been confirmed dead in the eastern Congolese city of Goma on Wednesday, August 30 after a demonstration against the United Nations peacekeeping mission and other foreign organizations spiralled out of control.
The United Nations MONUSCO mission has since last year, faced protests caused partly by the complaints that the peacekeepers had failed to protect civilians against years of militia conflict.
The protest organisers had called for the demonstration to be peaceful, but images making rounds on social media had revealed men and women in civilian attire armed with sticks and stones beating a policeman trussed up on the ground.
The Congolese army also revealed that in the ensuing violence, about 158 persons were arrested.
A U.N. source however had remarked that the death toll was at least eight, two soldiers and a policeman inclusive.
Recall that in July 2022, an anti-MONUSCO protest resulted in over 15 deaths (three peacekeepers inclusive) in Goma and in Butembo city.
Several years of insurgency and recurrent natural disasters have helped fuel the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo.
At this point, about 5.5 million people are displaced in Goma’s province of North Kivu and the other neighbouring provinces, according to U.N. statistics.
