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At least four people were killed and eight injured when police opened fire and tear gas on citizens in Congo's capital Tuesday for protesting against government reforms – what protesters say are aimed at keeping the current President Denis Sassou Nguesso in power.
The protesters had initially planned a protest rally in the capital Brazzaville last Sunday, but it was banned last minute by authorities.
Citizens decided to take to the streets after President Sassou announced constitutional reforms that would allow the president to extend his stay in office after already being in power for the last three decades.
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Under current Congo law, the president can only serve a maximum of two seven-year terms, while the maximum age of candidates is 70-years-old. Sassou is already 71-years-old.
Thousands of protesters reportedly gathered early Tuesday morning waving banners that read “Sassou get out” and “No to the referendum.”
Police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse the protesters, but turned their guns on the crowd when the citizens refused to go home, reported Reuters. One witness told Reuters that they saw four bodies marked with bullet holes brought to the central morgue.
Witnesses say gunshots could be heard late into the afternoon.
“I was there when they opened fire,” one protester told Reuters, who declined to give his name. “I was lucky it wasn't me who was killed. All this because of a president who doesn't want to go.”
Residents in Brazzaville also said that their Internet and text messaging services were down. According to media reports, the government cut access to the main Internet service provider, Congotel, in order to squash further protests.
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.@daroulette We can confirm that Congotel is presently offline. Service began being cut at 7:04 UTC today pic.twitter.com/1Z2MSIm5XC
— Dyn Research (@DynResearch)
October 20, 2015
According to government spokesperson Thierry Moungalla, the fragile Internet and phone services were down because of high demand from users.
The opposition United for Congo party branded the attempted reforms as a “Constitutional coup d'etat.”
The two reforms will be put to a popular vote Sunday.
