(JED/IFEX) – On 26 September 2003, in a major operation, Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) officers seized most newspapers and magazines on sale in Kinshasa streets. According to eyewitnesses, at least a dozen newspaper vendors were arrested and taken to various police stations and detention centres in the city, including the Lufungula military […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 26 September 2003, in a major operation, Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) officers seized most newspapers and magazines on sale in Kinshasa streets. According to eyewitnesses, at least a dozen newspaper vendors were arrested and taken to various police stations and detention centres in the city, including the Lufungula military base in Kinshasa/Lingwala.
During the police operation, groups of citizens who read newspapers in the streets, commonly known in Kinshasa as “standing parliamentarians” (“Parlementaires débouts”), were also manhandled and dispersed. Most members of these groups are supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social, UDPS), an opposition party led by Etienne Tshisekedi.
No official reason has been given to explain the police operation, but there has been speculation in Kinshasa’s political circles that it came in response to the recent announcement of Tshisekedi’s imminent return to the country from South Africa. The UDPS leader is expected to arrive in Kinshasa on 28 September, after an absence of over two years. The news made headlines and was the subject of much commentary in the 26 September issue of most Kinshasa newspapers.
Contacted by JED, a senior official from the Office of the President told the organisation that “nothing can justify this police action. The government gave orders that no measures be undertaken to disturb the UDPS leader’s return to the country.”
JED believes that the seizure of newspapers in the streets of the Congolese capital by uniformed and armed police officers is no coincidence. The organisation deems this deliberate action to be an obstacle to the free circulation of news in the country and, as such, a serious attack on press freedom.
JED calls for an end to such police operations, which deprive the public of news and undermine the already fragile financial viability of Congolese media outlets. JED also urges Interior Minister Théophile Mbemba to see to it that the detained newspaper vendors are released unconditionally.
