Hundreds of protesters attacked several foreign embassies and a United Nations building in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, on Tuesday as a rebel offensive backed by neighboring Rwanda in the country’s east threatened to spiral into a regional crisis.
Anger at Congo’s foreign allies has been rising in the country this week over what is seen as their inability to stop an assault on the key eastern city of Goma on Monday by the March 23 Movement, or M23, a Congolese militia that the United Nations and United States say is supported and directed by Rwanda.
On Tuesday, protesters burned tires and threw stones in front of the U.S. Embassy’s main compound, according to local news reports, and breached the site of a new embassy building that is under construction, according to an American official in Kinshasa who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve staff safety. The site was later secured and no one was injured, the official said.
Protesters attacked the French Embassy in the city, causing a fire, according to Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, who denounced the violence as “unacceptable,” although he said the blaze had been brought under control.
Videos distributed by the Reuters news agency showed protesters breaking into the French Embassy and leaving the building with looted furniture. “Macron kills in Congo,” read a message left on an embassy wall, referring to President Emmanuel Macron of France. “You have long betrayed us.”
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