剛果警察逮捕100名抗議者

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested more than 100 protesters in cities across the country calling for presidential elections to be held by the end of the year.

Demonstrations took place in the capital, Kinshasa, the eastern city of Goma, and at least a half dozen other cities.

In Goma, witnesses said police used tear gas to disperse protesters, while in Kinshasa, media groups said several journalists covering the protests were briefly detained.

The U.N. Joint Human Rights Office in Congo condemned Monday's arrests, saying that "arbitrary arrests are incompatible with the right to information and right of freedom of assembly" guaranteed in Congo's constitution.

The youth movement Struggle for Change (LUCHA) organized the protests, timed to mark the July 31 deadline by the country's election commission to conclude a voter registration program, which was not met.

The group's spokesman in Goma, Justin Muhiwa, told VOA that Congo's election commission needs to set a date for the vote because it is the right of the Congolese people to hold an election.

President Joseph Kabila's second and final constitutional mandate expired last December, leading to growing political tensions in the country.

An agreement reached last year by the president and the opposition said Kabila could remain in office until elections are organized, and it set a deadline of the end of 2017. However, the election commission announced this month that it would not be possible to organize elections by the end of December.

Kabila's government has faced a wave of protests in recent months over the election issue. Growing unrest in the country has raised fears of a return to civil war, which ravaged the DRC for nearly a decade beginning in the late 1990s, leading to the deaths of millions of people.剛果共和國各地發生抗議示威，要求在年底前舉行總統選舉，警方逮捕了100多名抗議者。

剛果首都金沙薩、東部城市戈馬，以及其它至少六個城市都發生了抗議示威。

在戈馬，目擊者說，警察動用催淚瓦斯驅散抗議人羣。在金沙薩，媒體說，幾名報道抗議示威的記者被短暫拘捕。

聯合國在剛果的聯合人權辦公室對星期一的拘捕行動表示譴責。該人權辦公室表示：“任意拘捕與剛果憲法保障的知情權和自由結社權不相符合。”

這次抗議的組織者是青年運動“爲改變而奮鬥”，抗議選在7月31日，剛好是剛果選舉委員會結束選舉登記項目的截止日期，但是該委員會沒有如期完成登記工作。

“爲改變而奮鬥”運動在戈馬的發言人告訴美國之音說，選舉委員會需要確定投票日期，因爲剛果人民有權利舉行選舉。

剛果民主共和國總統卡比拉第二屆任期去年12月結束，導致國內政治局勢日益緊張。

根據去年總統和反對派達成的協議，大選前卡比拉可以留任，並把選舉最後期限定在2017年年底。然而，選舉委員會這個月宣佈，12月底以前不可能組織選舉。

最近幾個月因爲選舉問題先後多次發生抗議卡比拉政府的行動。剛果民主共和國日益動盪的局勢讓人們擔心這個國家會再次陷入內戰。上世紀90年代末剛果民主共和國曾發生近10年的內戰，造成數百萬人喪生。