Amnesty criticises roundup of children and adults

Amnesty International in a statement on Friday expressed concern at the detention by police in Kinshasa of some 100 children and over 100 adults “in health-threatening conditions” and urged that “steps be taken to ensure the physical well-being of all the detainees, including the provision of adequate food.” The arrests were made following the 15 August shooting in Kinshasa’s central market by police of a young man who threw scalding water on a police officer to escape after having allegedly been caught stealing. The police officer sustained severe burns, and a second officer reportedly opened fire on the man, killing him. “This officer is now understood to be under arrest,” according to the Amnesty statement. Dozens of street children then reportedly converged on the market and staged a violent protest, ransacking the market and setting fire to a local police station. A police officer at the station was severely beaten and stabbed, and later died from his injuries. Police made scores of arrests, and by the evening of 16 August at least 220 people were in custody at the Direction provinciale de la Police (Provincial Police Directorate), according to Amnesty. While recognising “the right of the authorities to bring to justice those suspected of involvement in the violence at the central market or in the killing of the police officer,” Amnesty stated that it feared that “many children are being arrested arbitrarily, simply because they are living on the streets rather than because there is any substantive evidence of wrongdoing against them.” Amnesty also noted that a number of the detainees were injured during their arrest and are reported to require medical treatment. “While the detainees are not considered to be at risk of further beatings or of torture in detention, the conditions in which they are being held constitute ill-treatment.”