DR Congo condemns US police killing of Patrick Lyoya
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DR Congo Prime Minister condemned the assassination of a citizen of Congolese origin Patrick Lyoya, unarmed, by a police officer during a traffic stop.
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Protesters roaming the streets after Patrick Lyoya's murder by a police officer in Michigan
Kinshasa has condemned the shooting of one of its emigrants by a white US police officer nearly two weeks ago, according to a transcript of a government meeting seen on Saturday.
Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old whose family immigrated to the United States in 2014 as they fled the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was killed during a traffic stop in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 4, by a white police officer.
GRAPHIC: A police officer executed Patrick Lyoya in broad daylight on April 4th. He’s clearly shown on video shooting someone in the head while they are facedown in the grass. The cop is still unnamed and this is still under investigation.
— 🅹🅾🅴🆈աrecκ ☠(@joeywreck) April 16, 2022
pic.twitter.com/lmFaT4RRLR
He became the latest to be added to the list of black people dying at the hands of police in the United States that has ignited widespread protests against racism and demands for reform.
During a government meeting on Friday, DR Congo Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde "forcefully condemned the cowardly assassination by a white police officer in the United States of a citizen of Congolese origin Patrick Lyoya, unarmed, during a traffic stop," according to the minutes of the meeting.
He said the US ambassador in DR Congo had expressed "his deep regrets and his government's condolences following this despicable act."
US police have released four videos from the incident, one of which shows the officer -- who has not been named -- lying on top of Lyoya as the two scuffled, and then appearing to shoot him in the head.
