At least 17 killed in protests over President in DR Congo’s capital

Opposition supporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo blocked Kinshasa’s roads with burning tyre as they called for President Joseph Kabila to stand down when his mandate ends on 19 December.

A researcher with Human Rights Watch, Ida Sawyer, said on Twitter that at least two protesters were killed opposite the country’s parliament building.

A march attended by thousands descended into violence as police and anti-government protesters clashed in Kinshasa.

France has urged Congolese authorities to ensure that any delay in holding the next presidential election was as short as possible, and called on the government to respect “public liberties, especially the right to demonstrate peacefully”.

Several banks have been burned, said Evariste Boshab, the Interior Minister of Congo, Xinhua news agency reported.

Reuters reported that the protest attended by thousands came amid growing local and worldwide pressure on Kabila to step down when his mandate legally ends in December.

Monday’s march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote.

The constitution allows Kabila to stay in power until another vote can be organized.

“It’s a question we will discuss [among] Europeans, but the situation is extremely worrying and very risky”, said Ayrault.

The main opposition parties had called for a nationwide demonstration to “give notice” to Kabila, whose mandate expires on December 20.

The United States and France on Monday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to set an election date amid growing unrest, with Washington protesting harassment of a U.S. envoy.

Last week the government held talks to set a new election timetable.

“We have recorded several deaths”, said Bruno Tshibala, a spokesman for the opposition UDPS, adding that he had seen four bodies piled up in the office of an allied party.

An AFP photographer and a journalist working for French radio station RFI were briefly detained by the security forces while they covered the clashes.

Before the clashes, opposition activists burnt a giant poster of Kabila bearing a message appealing for the two sides to reach a solution to the political crisis through “dialogue”. The DRC has never had a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.