A policewoman in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was on Tuesday arrested after allegedly shooting a young protester dead at close range in the eastern city of Goma, police said.
The teenage boy was killed as angry residents staged protests after police prevented them from pursuing thieves who were preying on northern neighbourhoods in the city, a local official added.
“I have just arrested the officer who shot the youth at point-blank range. It is a policewoman. We have placed her in the hands of the appropriate authorities,” police chief Jean-Baptiste Bukili told an AFP correspondent.
He said that residents had torched a police station to protest insecurity in northern Goma neighbourhoods.
“Bandits were active overnight towards Kisoko and stole things from the population. When people wanted to chase the bandits, police stopped them, which is what infuriated the inhabitants,” Katembo said.
Pictures posted on Twitter showed a youth lying on his back wearing a bloody T-shirt, and a policewoman who had been arrested by a man wearing an army uniform.
