Kinshasa Police Ban Campaign Rallies ahead of DR Congo Poll

Police banned all political rallies in Kinshasa Saturday after a man died in a stoning on the final day of campaigning for the Democratic Republic of Congo's national elections.

"We have decided to ban all gatherings and meetings, there has been a death," said Kinshasa police chief Jean de Dieu Oleko at Kinshasa airport, where thousands gathered to meet President Joseph Kabila and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, the main rivals in Monday's polls.

Police gunfire also injured at least two people as officers at the airport fired shots -- both in the air and at crowd level -- to disperse Tshisekedi supporters, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Police also fired teargas at the airport and at the square where Tshisekedi was due to hold his last rally before Monday's national elections.

However, veteran DR Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi vowed Saturday on arriving in the capital to hold a rally at the city's largest stadium, defying a police ban imposed after a deadly stoning.

"We are going to Stade des Martyrs. That's where I'm going to hold my rally," Tshisekedi told thousands of supporters on arrival in Kinshasa, after the final day of campaigning for the country's Monday elections was cut short following unrest in which police said at least one man was stoned to death.