Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have used batons, stun grenades and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Kinshasa who complained about irregularities in preparations for historic elections later this month.
At least 10 people were injured in the running battles which brought chaos to the centre of the riverside capital, witnesses said. Police said 10 of their officers were also hurt by stones thrown by protesters.
It was the second protest in two weeks violently broken up by Congolese police and indicated political tensions were running high ahead of the July 30th polls, the first free elections in the vast central African country in 40 years.
"Congolese brothers, open your eyes and rise up. They want rigged elections to make sure their candidate wins," said pamphlets distributed by demonstrators.
Protesters shouted insults at foreign reporters, saying they and foreign governments were biased in favour of President Joseph Kabila, who is standing in the elections along with some 30 other contenders.
The protesters, who included some presidential and parliamentary candidates, demanded the destruction of millions of spare ballot papers printed for the polls. They said they feared these might be used fraudulently to fix the results.
A Reuters reporter saw several hundred riot police charge at the protesters, who had sat down and blocked a main boulevard in Kinshasa.
Officers firing tear gas chased demonstrators down side streets and beat some with batons. They also fired stun grenades which knocked several people unconscious.
Some protesters said one person was killed by gunshots fired by police but this could not immediately be confirmed.
Demonstrators distributed pamphlets in the name of 19 presidential candidates who last week demanded a halt in campaigning for the polls, saying 5 million spare ballot papers should be destroyed to prevent cheating.
The electoral commission says it needs the spare ballots in case any others are destroyed by accident.