The presence of bags with LGBT colors at DRC Mining Week in Lubumbashi has provoked anger by citizens.
Organizations of the citizens’ movements of the Democratic Republic of Congo held a sit-in in front of the entrance to the Karavia hotel in the Golf district in the commune of Lubumbashi, where the 16th edition of the mining week is being held, to demand the removal of all bags in the colors of the LGBT community (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders).
The sit in was held yesterday, Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Displaying placards with words “No to LGBT, no to homosexuality”, the members of the organizations of the citizens’ movements castigated the fact that at the opening of DRC Mining Week, hundreds of visitors and guests each received free of charge, small handbags on which the colors of the LGBT communities were prominent. They viewed the handouts as a subtle LGBT campaign in a conservative society.
When the provincial Minister of Interior Affairs for Haut-Katanga, heard about the protest, he ordered the organizers of the mining week to remove all the bags that triggered controversy as demanded by the population of Lubumbashi.
Eric Muta told journalists that DRC Mining Week apologized and removed all LGBT connected artifacts.
It did not help the population that First Lady Denis Nyakeru showed up at a public event recently in an attire with LGBT colors.
