Anti-Rwanda demonstrators burned Western countries’ flags on Monday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, accusing them of supporting Kigali through the M23 rebels.
Fighting between the mostly Tutsi M23 rebellion and Congolese government forces has flared in recent days around the town of Sake, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Goma in North Kivu province.
The DRC, the United Nations and Western countries say Rwanda is supporting the rebels in a bid to control vast mineral resources, an allegation Kigali denies.
Several dozen demonstrators, some draped in the DRC flag with red bands around their heads, trampled on the flags of the United States, the European Union, France and Poland.
“We are in the street to denounce the crimes of which the Congolese are victims,” said Espoir Mwinuka, an activist with the Lucha (Struggle for Change) movement. “Rwanda kills us every day and is supported by the international community, which is why we burned these flags.”
They carried placards, reading: “Stop the massacres in the DRC”, “France = M23/Rwanda” and “To be silent is to be an accomplice.”
The demonstrators, mainly young men, marched from the city centre to the road leading to Sake before turning back.
Dozens of soldiers and civilians have reportedly been killed or wounded in the latest fighting, which pushed tens of thousands of civilians towards Goma.
On Saturday, the Congolese army accused Rwanda of using drones to attack Goma airport.
The demonstration was banned by Goma’s city hall but took place peacefully, with no clashes between police and army forces.
Sporadic fighting was reported at the front-line town of Sake on Monday.
A “bomb” fell at about midday in the Kanduki neighbourhood on the town’s outskirts, killing a 12-year-old child and injuring five civilians, local sources said.
“One person died and five others were injured,” Joseph Maombi Mubiri, mayor of central Sake told AFP by telephone from Goma.
He said the “bomb” came from an area around Sake where the M23 rebels are.
“The victim who died is a child of 12 years old. The injured have been taken to Sake health centre and were due to be transported to Goma,” Leopold Busanga, a civil society leader said.
Armed groups have plagued the eastern DRC for decades, a legacy of regional wars fought in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
