By Spy Uganda Correspondent
At least five people were killed during anti-UN protests, which also left dozens injured in the eastern city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a government spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
In a tweet, spokesman Patrick Muyaya said security forces had responded by firing “warning shots” at protesters.
During the protests Monday, hundreds blocked roads and chanted slogans against the UN before the peacekeeping mission’s headquarters and the logistical base was stormed and looted.
Helicopters, meanwhile, airlifted UN staff from the premises while security forces worked to push demonstrators back, firing tear gas.
The protests in Goma continued into Tuesday, with one man shot near the logistical base.
Our correspondents reported witnesses saying peacekeepers used live rounds to quell the demonstrations on Tuesday.
One eyewitness said two were killed and two more injured. The same witness said the shots were not fired by the army or the police.
The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, is among the largest peacekeeping missions in the world. It has routinely come under criticism however for failing to stop the bloodshed in the region’s now decades-old conflict.
More than 120 armed groups operate in the region, including the so-called Islamic State and the M23 rebel movement. Massacres of civilians are common and the number of displaced by the conflict is in the millions.
