12 Killed as Police Open Fire on Protesters

Security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters, leaving as many as 12 people dead on the first full day of campaigning for national elections at the end of this month, U.N. sources said.

June 30 was the original deadline for the polls under a 2003 peace deal to end a five-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. Hard-line opposition supporters say President Joseph Kabila’s government will no longer be legitimate after today.

Police in the town of Matadi shot at members of the Bundu dia Kongo, a political and religious movement calling for the overthrow of the government, United Nations sources said.