The death of a student from a police fire yesterday Saturday in Kinshasa is shocking.
The police accused him of not wearing a mask during the shooting of a video, while the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a third wave of the new coronavirus pandemic, eyewitnesses and the African country’s media reported today.
“Our classmate Honore Sama, a student at the University of Kinshasa, was filming a comedy internship. A police officer demanded that he wear a mask during the shooting “, the student Pasian Ondia, present when the incident unfolded, told the French Agency.
“Despite the explanations he gave him and although he showed him his mask, the policeman, indignant because he was probably waiting for money, accused him of resisting and shot him in the face,” he added.
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Similar testimonies were gathered from Top Radio Congo, which has a large audience, and news sites, as broadcast by Agence France-Presse and rebroadcast by the Athens News Agency.
The use of a mask is mandatory in the country, with a fine of 10,000 Congolese francs (around 4 euros). But in Kinshasa, police officers are often accused of harassing citizens and embezzling fines without issuing certificates of infringement and fines.
According to the latest official epidemiological data, as of yesterday, Friday, the DRC had recorded 1,021 deaths due to COVID-19 out of a total of 47,786 cases of SARS-CoV-2.
As of July 10, the immunization campaign has been suspended in the country of 92 million people, as the available stock of vaccines of the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca exceeded the expiration date.
