Two days of clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, that pitted the security forces against protesters who demanded President Joseph Kabila's resignation, left at least 32 people dead, police said Wednesday.
"The provisional death toll for September 19 and 20, 2016 is 32," national police spokesman Pierre-Rombaut Mwana-Mputu told reporters.
During the clashes, a police station and 12 other police positions were looted and set on fire on Tuesday, the spokesman said, branding the rioters "insurgents."
"The national police was backed by members of the (army) to stop the acts of looting and vandalism," the spokesman said, adding that the security forces came face to face multiple times with rioters armed with Kalashnikov rifles.
"Law enforcement agencies are asking the population to report on all those holding ... weapons and other military gear stolen during the looting of police stations and positions."
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