Gunfire as Congo police disperse mourners at Kinshasa church

Police in Congo’s capital fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse people, including ambassadors, attending a mass at Kinshasa’s Catholic cathedral to honor protesters killed in clashes with security forces, witnesses said Friday.

Catholic churches and activists had called for the New Year’s Eve protests against President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down. The United States and others have condemned Congolese security forces’ response to the protests at more than 160 churches, which included tear gas in churches and the arrests of altar boys.

The United Nations has said Congolese security forces killed at least seven people in those protests, which came one year after the Catholic church oversaw the signing of an accord that set a new election date to ease tensions in the vast, mineral-rich Central African country.

Kabila, whose mandate ended in December 2016, had agreed to set an election by the end of 2017. But Congo’s election commission later said the vote cannot be held until December 2018.

Critics accuse Kabila of postponing elections to maintain his grip on power, while international observers have warned that the political tensions could further destabilize the impoverished country and the region at large.

The mourners on Friday fled the cathedral during the mass led by Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the archbishop of Kinshasa.

— The Associated Press