Congo opposition leader hospitalised after being teargassed by police

 Moise Katumbi, Congolese opposition figure, has been hospitalised after police fired tear gas at him and his supporters.

The incident happened outside the prosecutor’s office in the southern mining hub of Lubumbashi, Georges Kapiamba, his lawyer, said.

“He is sick. He was attacked. So, it’s normal that the doctor would want to keep him under observation,” said his lawyer.

He told Reuters that Katumbi had inhaled tear gas and was manhandled by police upon his arrival.

The former governor of Democratic Republic of Congo’s main copper-mining region had been summoned for allegedly hiring mercenaries, including former US soldiers, as part of a plot against the republic.

Katumbi denied the accusations, which he said were aimed at derailing his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila.

Kabila has ruled since 2001 but is barred from standing for a third term in an election set for November.

Shortly after Katumbi’s arrival, police fired tear gas at thousands of his backers, who had gathered outside the prosecutor’s office to show their support, and the two sides pelted each other with stones.

Kapiamba said the hearing was almost immediately suspended after Katumbi said he felt unwell.

Friday’s violence was the third time in five days that police have dispersed Katumbi’s supporters amid questioning by the prosecutor that began on Monday.

“It’s sad that there is not a state of law – police officers who throw stones and wound my older brother,” Katumbi said before finally entering the building.

Political tensions are high in Congo, where dozens were killed in January 2015 in protests over a proposed revision of the electoral law.

Critics had said that proposed revision of the electoral law was a ploy to keep Kabila in power beyond the end of his mandate.

Kabila’s critics accuse him of trying to delay the November election to cling to power.

The government has said that it is unlikely to be able to organise the poll in time due to budgetary and logistical constraints.

The country’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that Kabila would stay in power beyond the end of his mandate this year if the election does not take place.

In a statement on Friday, leading opposition parties accused the court of supporting a “constitutional coup d’etat” and called for marches across the country on May 26 to demand that Kabila step down this year.