CKINSHASA, Oct 30 – Eleven people, including two policemen, were killed in a stampede at a packed stadium concert in Kinshasa on Saturday, headlined by Congolese singer Fally Ipupa, the interior minister said.
The Martyrs’ Stadium in the capital was filled beyond its capacity of 80,000 people, and some of the crowd eventually squeezed into VIP and reserved sections, Reuters reporters at the concert said.
Police recorded “11 deaths, including 10 due to suffocation and crushing, and 7 hospitalizations,” Minister Daniel Aselo Okito said in a statement.
Security forces earlier used tear gas to disperse violent crowds in the streets outside the stadium, where many had gathered ahead of a concert by Kinshasa-born Ipupa, who has won acclaim in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Europe and elsewhere.
The eventual number of participants in the stadium far exceeded the number that could be controlled by the private security personnel present.
In 2020, French police evacuated the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris after rioters in the area started fires ahead of a planned Ipupa concert.