Government denies killings in Lubumbashi

Minister of Communications Kikaya bin Karubi denied on Saturday reports that six people had been killed at the weekend in a fight between residents and the police in the southern city of Lubumbashi. He said, however, that four rioters and four policemen were injured.

"The worst hurt was the policeman who was struck by a stone," he said.

Witnesses in Lubumbashi, Katanga Province, said three members of the public and three policemen had been killed in the fight between the two groups. The incident occurred when youths tried to stop policemen from stealing merchandise at the city's Kenya market, the witnesses said. However, the government said the fight had broken out when police tried to close down a black market. The country's human rights body, ASADHO, said the confrontation escalated when youths began stoning the police.

"The policemen first fired shots into the air, then directly into the crowd when one of their number [a policeman] ran out of ammunition, was seized and burnt alive," a city resident, requesting anonymity, said.