Man Shot Dead At Protest Over DR Congo Massacre

BENI, DR Congo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th August, 2016) - A young man was shot dead Wednesday when security forces opened fire at a crowd protesting the government's alleged failure to protect civilians after a gruesome massacre in eastern DR Congo. Police and troops fired tear gas and warning shots to break up an angry protest in the town of Beni where 51 civilians were hacked to death last weekend in the latest in a string of attacks blamed on rebels. "This person was killed by a bullet to the back," hospital doctor Jeremie Muhindo told AFP, adding that five people had been injured in the clashes, including three by gunfire.

The head of Beni's civil society movement Gilbert Kambale confirmed the young man was killed by a police officer while a witness who would not be named said he had been shot at point blank range by a policeman. Security forces stepped in after hundreds gathered in the town's main street on the last day of a three-day mourning period called by civil society groups over the gruesome murder of dozens of people on Saturday night.