Martin Fayulu, a member of the Congolese parliament, was arrested Sunday, Feb. 14, but was later released, confirmed government spokesman Lambert Mende. Fayulu is the leader of the parliament's opposition, the Commitment to Citizenship and Development political party. His arrest was done prior to a planned demonstration against the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Fayulu was detained Sunday afternoon in Kinshasa, Bloomberg News reported Feb. 15. The arrest was done after reports of a protest against the governance of President Joseph Kabila surfaced, supposed to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 16, the newswire noted.
"He was arrested by the security forces for inciting civil disobedience. When it was identified that he was a member of parliament he was released, but the magistrate has opened an inquiry against Mr. Fayulu which will be heard in parliament," Mende was cited by saying over a phone interview.
Issues on President Kabila's purported plans of staying in the office despite the illegality of running for a third term lie behind the planned rally by the opposition, the Washington Post also reported. They claim that Kabila, who has been serving the country as president since 2001, plans to manipulate national policies to delay the upcoming presidential elections in November, reports said.
Demonstrations of a similar nature have begun since 2015, opposing the planned changes to Congo's electoral law. Human Rights Watch recorded that casualties reached more than 40 citizens so far for the protests. The proposed changes by Kabila's government were since discarded.
On Jan. 19, protests were held in more than 40 sites in the nation's capital, GhanaWeb reported. Rallyists comprised of several civil society groups and opposition political parties, and called themselves the Citizen Front 2016.
"[T]he government sent soldiers and policemen to the site allotted to me and my party where they blocked our access and arrested five of my activists. They told the priest to stop the mass, not only here but at all the other sites too," Fayulu was cited as saying during one of the earlier rallies.
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