Thousands of Zairians demonstrated and set up roadblocks this morning in downtown Goma, saying they were fed up with thieving soldiers sent to help in the Rwandan refugee crisis.
At least six tractor-trailers bringing relief supplies to nearby refugee camps were stranded at the border because they were unable to navigate through the makeshift barricades.Some refugees joined in as about 5,000 townspeople filled the streets, throwing rocks and taunting police after a Zairian soldier shot and killed a local man who had been changing money on the black market.
"Throw the soldiers out," protesters chanted as others carried a wooden stretcher bearing the body of the man shot Wednesday night.
Demonstrators said they were tired of robberies and extortion committed by Zairian soldiers called to Goma last month to keep order after nearly 1 million Rwandan war refugees surged over the border into their community, fleeing advancing rebels.
The Hutu refugees are afraid the Tutsi-led rebels, who now control Rwanda, will retaliate for the massacre of up to 500,000 people, mainly Tutsis, by Hutu militias and the Rwandan army since April.
Soldiers fired in the air at least twice Thursday to send the protesters scattering, but the crowds regrouped each time. Demonstrators threw signposts, debris and two-foot chunks of volcanic rock onto a mile-long stretch of the main road.