{"id":26937,"date":"2018-01-23T10:05:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T10:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=26937"},"modified":"2018-01-23T10:38:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T10:38:27","slug":"congo-churchgoers-limete-injured-police-rubber-bullets-murcadha-o-flaherty-john-pontifex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/01\/23\/congo-churchgoers-limete-injured-police-rubber-bullets-murcadha-o-flaherty-john-pontifex\/","title":{"rendered":"CONGO:  Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets &#8211; Murcadha O Flaherty and John Pontifex\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Army and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stand accused of killing at least four people and injuring several others in attacks on more than 130 churches around the country. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Church leaders have blamed DRC\u2019s security forces for attacks over the New Year which took place at 134 churches and chapels in the capital and a number of provinces in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>In the latest incident on Friday (12th January), two people were injured when security forces reportedly fired tear gas at Kinshasa Cathedral after a Mass for lay people killed on 31st December by military and police.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Apollinaire Cikongo, Executive Secretary of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference, Kananga Province which covers eight dioceses in central DRC, said in his statement, given to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: \u201cAfter this Mass, the army and police again fired tear gas and two people were injured.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26975 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/v2-275x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/v2-275x300.jpg 275w, https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/v2-600x655.jpg 600w, https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/v2-580x633.jpg 580w, https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/v2.jpg 646w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Soldiers and police are accused of firing live ammunition in an unprovoked attack on the grounds of the church as the faithful were <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">coming out of Mass at St Dominic\u2019s Church, Limete. St Dominic\u2019s parochial vicar, Father Jean Nkongolo, said that when he asked them to stop shooting the parishioners, he was shot in the face by a rubber bullet and injured.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Four other parishioners were injured by rubber bullets during the attack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As well as rubber bullet security forces fired \u2018stun\u2019 projectiles and tear gas at the religious procession in the church\u2019s grounds, reportedly almost killing a woman.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Nkongolo\u2019s account was relayed through Father Kikongo who said: \u201cEvery Sunday after Mass the parishioners go the Grotto of Our Lady within the church grounds to pray the Salve Regina prayer and get a blessing. \u201cFather Nkongolo said that it was at this moment the parishioners were attacked and shot with tear gas and rubber bullets by the security forces.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Describing how Fr Nkongolo received his facial injury, Father Kikongo said: \u201cFather Nkongolo went over to the police to tell them to stop because the people were innocent and had done nothing wrong. \u201cFather Nkongolo told me that it was at this moment, a policeman shot at him directly towards his eyes with a rubber bullet, but thanks be to God Fr Nkongolo reacted quickly and moved his head away from the attack. Otherwise, he would have been hit in the eyes, but he was shot on the side of his face.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Cikongo said that after the attack Father Nkongolo noticed the woman shot in the head, picked her up off the ground and carried her into the church. Father Kikongo said: \u201cThis one lady was shot in the head with a live bullet. Fr Nkongolo said: \u2018we thought at the time that she was dead but she had survived.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The woman was taken to hospital where latest reports describe her condition as stable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Father Cikongo said that after the Mass, the parish had decided against taking part in a peaceful march organised by lay faithful after the DRC\u2019s President Joseph Kabila reneged on a deal to stand down and not serve a third term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But now, after the attack at Kinshasa Cathedral, Father Cikongo said the lay faithful \u2013 the Lay Coordination Committee \u2013 have called for a peaceful demonstration on Sunday (21<sup>st<\/sup> January).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Mercado O Flaherty and John Pontifex\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets \u00a0 Army and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stand accused of killing at least four people and injuring several others in attacks on more than 130 churches around the country. Church leaders have blamed DRC\u2019s security forces for attacks over&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CONGO: Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets - Murcadha O Flaherty and John Pontifex\u00a0 - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/01\/23\/congo-churchgoers-limete-injured-police-rubber-bullets-murcadha-o-flaherty-john-pontifex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CONGO: Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets - Murcadha O Flaherty and John Pontifex\u00a0 - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Churchgoers in Limete injured by police rubber bullets \u00a0 Army and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stand accused of killing at least four people and injuring several others in attacks on more than 130 churches around the country. 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