<p class="bodytext">Congolese security forces shot dead a man and injured several others Sunday in a bloody crackdown on Catholic worshippers who gathered at churches across the country to demand President Joseph Kabila leave power.</p>.<p class="bodytext">AFP reporters witnessed the latest of several recent outbreaks of bloodshed in the vast, mineral-rich central African country, wracked by tension over delayed elections.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An AFP reporter at a demonstration in the central city of Kananga saw a man shot in the chest by soldiers who opened fire on worshippers gathered for what church leaders said would be a peaceful protest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Elsewhere, troops fired tear gas and bullets in the air to break up gatherings at Catholic masses, in one case arresting 12 altar boys who were leading a protest in the capital Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Church and opposition groups defied a ban by authorities to push ahead with the demonstrations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The protesters were demanding that Kabila promise he will not seek to further extend his time in power in DR Congo, a mostly Catholic former Belgian colony.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kabila has been in power since 2001. Elections to replace him have been delayed and are currently set for December 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The United Nations says dozens of people have been killed during anti-government protests this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Impatience boiled over on Sunday, with all the vast central African country's main opposition and civil society groups joining in the call for peaceful protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In Kinshasa AFP counted at least 15 people hurt including three hit by bullets in the Massina district.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two people were also injured by bullets in the country's second-biggest city, Lubumbashi, an AFP correspondent said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rioters burned vehicles and looted shops after security forces broke up a protest after mass at a church there.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Police fired bullets and tear gas while youths retaliated by throwing stones.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One army officer threatened a team of AFP reporters covering the crackdown at St. Michael's church in Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you don't clear out of here, I'll order that you be shot at," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Press, or not, no one is allowed inside. What's more, you have a white man with you -- that's a race that causes us problems."</p>.<p class="bodytext">A journalist for French radio station RFI was briefly detained, AFP reporters saw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A churchgoer who asked not to be named described to AFP how officers dispersed worshippers from one mass in Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"While we were praying, the soldiers and the police entered the church compound and fired tear gas in the church," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another parishioner who identified herself as Chantal said: "People fell, first-aiders are resuscitating old ladies who have fallen" -- but added that the priest carried on saying mass.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Officers later detained 12 altar boys dressed in their liturgical robes outside one church as they led a protest march.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Other protesters went back inside the church grounds and started singing for the Virgin Mary to "make Kabila go".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The church gatherings had dispersed by early afternoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In Kinshasa, Catholics of the "Lay Coordinating Committee" had invited worshippers to walk, holding bibles, rosaries and crucifixes, after mass on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They want Kabila, 46, to declare publicly that he will not run for another term as president.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The country has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kabila succeeded his assassinated father Laurent Kabila in 2001 and refused to step down at the end of his second and final term in December 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That refusal led to protests and a bloody crackdown.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Elections had been due to take place by the end of this year under a church-mediated deal but were further delayed, outraging Kabila's opponents.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The poll is now scheduled for December 23, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Government spokesman Lambert Mende alleged in televised comments that "weapons of war have been distributed" by opponents of the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These destabilising acts of agitation aim to create an atmosphere of insurrection which would enable them to seize power in our country by undemocratic means," he said, citing a government report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">International powers such as the United Nations have called on the Congolese authorities to allow peaceful protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">bmb-mbb/rlp/pg</p>
<p class="bodytext">Congolese security forces shot dead a man and injured several others Sunday in a bloody crackdown on Catholic worshippers who gathered at churches across the country to demand President Joseph Kabila leave power.</p>.<p class="bodytext">AFP reporters witnessed the latest of several recent outbreaks of bloodshed in the vast, mineral-rich central African country, wracked by tension over delayed elections.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An AFP reporter at a demonstration in the central city of Kananga saw a man shot in the chest by soldiers who opened fire on worshippers gathered for what church leaders said would be a peaceful protest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Elsewhere, troops fired tear gas and bullets in the air to break up gatherings at Catholic masses, in one case arresting 12 altar boys who were leading a protest in the capital Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Church and opposition groups defied a ban by authorities to push ahead with the demonstrations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The protesters were demanding that Kabila promise he will not seek to further extend his time in power in DR Congo, a mostly Catholic former Belgian colony.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kabila has been in power since 2001. Elections to replace him have been delayed and are currently set for December 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The United Nations says dozens of people have been killed during anti-government protests this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Impatience boiled over on Sunday, with all the vast central African country's main opposition and civil society groups joining in the call for peaceful protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In Kinshasa AFP counted at least 15 people hurt including three hit by bullets in the Massina district.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two people were also injured by bullets in the country's second-biggest city, Lubumbashi, an AFP correspondent said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rioters burned vehicles and looted shops after security forces broke up a protest after mass at a church there.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Police fired bullets and tear gas while youths retaliated by throwing stones.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One army officer threatened a team of AFP reporters covering the crackdown at St. Michael's church in Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you don't clear out of here, I'll order that you be shot at," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Press, or not, no one is allowed inside. What's more, you have a white man with you -- that's a race that causes us problems."</p>.<p class="bodytext">A journalist for French radio station RFI was briefly detained, AFP reporters saw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A churchgoer who asked not to be named described to AFP how officers dispersed worshippers from one mass in Kinshasa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"While we were praying, the soldiers and the police entered the church compound and fired tear gas in the church," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another parishioner who identified herself as Chantal said: "People fell, first-aiders are resuscitating old ladies who have fallen" -- but added that the priest carried on saying mass.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Officers later detained 12 altar boys dressed in their liturgical robes outside one church as they led a protest march.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Other protesters went back inside the church grounds and started singing for the Virgin Mary to "make Kabila go".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The church gatherings had dispersed by early afternoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In Kinshasa, Catholics of the "Lay Coordinating Committee" had invited worshippers to walk, holding bibles, rosaries and crucifixes, after mass on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They want Kabila, 46, to declare publicly that he will not run for another term as president.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The country has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kabila succeeded his assassinated father Laurent Kabila in 2001 and refused to step down at the end of his second and final term in December 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That refusal led to protests and a bloody crackdown.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Elections had been due to take place by the end of this year under a church-mediated deal but were further delayed, outraging Kabila's opponents.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The poll is now scheduled for December 23, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Government spokesman Lambert Mende alleged in televised comments that "weapons of war have been distributed" by opponents of the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These destabilising acts of agitation aim to create an atmosphere of insurrection which would enable them to seize power in our country by undemocratic means," he said, citing a government report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">International powers such as the United Nations have called on the Congolese authorities to allow peaceful protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">bmb-mbb/rlp/pg</p>