Democratic Republic of the Congo - May 2023

As the process of voter registration leading up to the presidential election in December concludes, likely opposition candidates for the presidency organized a protest in Kinshasa on 20 May. The protest was against what they claim to be irregularities in the voter registration process, and against the major ongoing challenges in the country in the form of the rising cost of living and persistent conflict in the eastern regions of the country. The protest was met with a heavy-handed response from the police, including the use of tear gas. More than a dozen protestors were arrested, and a video circulated on social media showing a youth being kicked and beaten by police officers. The police said that the protest had been authorized for a different area of the city, and that the leaders of the protest did not comply with an order to go to the authorized location. Three police officers were later arrested on suspicion of assaulting a minor.

Sources: Africa News, France24, Voice of America, Human Rights Watch, Radio Okapi