By David Lewis

Kinshasa - Security forces shot in the air and lobbed teargas at thousands of protesters who marched through the Democratic Republic of Congo's rundown capital on Thursday, demanding the government's resignation over delayed elections.

Army helicopters clattered over the sprawling city as protesters clutching handkerchiefs over their eyes hurled stones at riot police. Trucks of soldiers raced at the crowds and soldiers erected barricades to hamper their progress.

No details of injuries were immediately available but a Reuters reporter saw bruised protesters with bandages on their heads who said they were beaten by police.

Some protesters said people had been killed, but there was no immediate confirmation. A local television station aired footage of an injured marcher whom it said had been hit by a bullet. Police raided the station after the broadcast.

Frustrations have been rising over the delay to the first democratic polls in 40 years. The elections were the cornerstone of a 2003 peace deal to end a five-year war which killed up to 4 million people, mainly from conflict-related hunger and disease.

The protests were called by opposition politicians who say President Joseph Kabila's transitional government should resign.

"The people were just trying to demonstrate peacefully but soldiers came in and started firing," said Lysee Dimandja, a member of parliament.

"This is a shame for our institutions. It will just antagonise the population," she said before riot police fired teargas to disperse the crowd gathered around her.

"We're just trying to demonstrate peacefully and they started shooting," said a young man, running from the protests in another part of the city of nine million.

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-06-30 14:02:53