DR Congo marks one year since massacre of Goma protesters
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00:00But first, commemorations were held in the Diokongolese city of Goma on Thursday,
00:06a year on since 56 protesters were shot dead by soldiers cracking down on a rally demanding
00:12the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers. A military colonel was sentenced to death over the killings
00:17and several other soldiers received decade-long prison terms. Our Emmett Livingston is in Kinshasa
00:23with more. On August 30th, 2023, an elite group of soldiers in Goma in eastern Diokongo attacked
00:31a religious sect planning to protest against UN peacekeepers in the region. The attempt to stop
00:36the protest turned into a massacre as soldiers went on a killing spree. 56 civilians ended up
00:42dead. UN peacekeepers are deeply unpopular in eastern Congo due to a perception that they do
00:47little against M23 rebels who have conquered swathes of territory with the backing of Rwanda.
00:53But in a dark irony, it was state forces that carried out last year's massacre.
00:57In Goma on Thursday, dozens of members of the sect gathered to commemorate the killing.
01:05We continue to demand justice and real justice. We don't talk to this day about those who were
01:10wounded, about those who were killed, even the orphans, even the widows and widowers.
01:16We don't talk about any of them. That's why we keep demanding the truth and that justice be done.
01:29They had come to kill us, so they had hoped we would all perish in the carnage.
01:34So those who escaped were unjustly imprisoned. We're calling on the authorities to release them.
01:40The details of what happened on the day of the massacre remain unclear,
01:47with the army blaming protesters for opening fire first. A trial has since taken place and
01:52one military officer was sentenced to death and others given prison terms for their role in the
01:57massacre. But the army could only try to stop the protest because of a special legal regime
02:02designed to combat militia violence, known as a state of siege, which in effect restricts
02:08civil rights. That legal regime is still in place. Goma's military authorities had earlier
02:13banned a public march to commemorate the victims of last year's massacre.