1959 Léopoldville Riots

The 1959 Congolese riots were an outbreak of civil disorder in Léopoldville, then part of the Belgian Congo, in early 1959 that marked a sharp turn in the Congolese independence movement. The rioting occurred when members of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) political party were not allowed to assemble for a protest and colonial authorities reacted harshly. The exact death toll is not known, but at least 49 people were killed and total casualties may have been as high as 500. The Belgian Congo received its independence, becoming the Republic of the Congo on 30 June 1960.

Riots

Calls for Congolese independence had been building for several years and a slew of new political parties competed for popular support, including the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO), led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu and the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), led by Patrice Lumumba. On 28 December 1958, Lumumba organized a major MNC rally in Kinshasa where he reported on his attendance of the All-African Peoples' Conference in Accra, Ghana earlier that month. Noting the success of the rally, Kasa-Vubu decided to organize his own event one week later, on Sunday January 4, 1959.[1]

Kasa-Vubu was set to address the crowd on African nationalism, but when the group requested permission to hold the meeting at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Belgian officials warned that if the event became political, ABAKO leaders would be held responsible.[2] Interpreting this as a prohibition of the meeting, ABAKO leadership attempted on 3 January to postpone the event, but on Sunday, 4 January, a large crowd gathered at the YMCA anyway.[1] Kasa-Vubu and other ABAKO officials arrived to send the protesters home. They were unable to calm the crowd,[2] and the violence began following the protesters refusal to disperse.[3]

The crowd began throwing rocks at police and attacking white motorists, before the conflagration spread. The initial group of protesters were soon joined by 20,000 Congolese leaving a nearby soccer stadium.[1] At the time press accounts estimated that 35,000 Africans were involved in the violence, which quickly spread as the rioters attempted to enter the European section of the capital.[4] Rioters allegedly smashed and looted storefronts, burned Catholic missions and beat Catholic priests. Order was restored with the use of African police officers in the employ of the colonial government and with the use of armored cars.[4]

Colonial authorities arrested as many as 300 Congolese, including Kasa-Vubu, who would later become the newly-independent Congo's first president, Simon Mzeza[5] and Daniel Kanza the vice-president of ABAKO, and charged them with inciting the riot.[4]

Result

Estimates of the riot's final death toll vary, but estimates of total casualties range from 49 to as high as 500.[6] More than just a significant loss of life, the January riots marked a turning point in the Congolese liberation movement, forcing colonial and Belgian authorities to acknowledge that serious issues existed.[7] The event, which is believed to have been spontaneous and featured crowds chanting "indépendance immédiate", a shocking public sentiment.[1]

In the immediate aftermath, Belgian authorities laid blame on unemployed Africans, but claimed the majority of the city's 250,000 African residents were not involved.[3] However, within days, Belgian authorities began to move quickly to put into place reforms that would offer Congolese more say in their own government, including the announcement of elections in December 1959.[8]

4 January is now celebrated as a public holiday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Day of the Martyrs. The events marked the radicalization of the independence movement and are often considered to be the "death knell" for Belgian control of the Congo.[1] This radicalization occurred on both sides, with a Congolese group signalling a willingness to use violence to achieve independence for the first time[1] as well as many in the white community also becoming increasingly prepared for violence. Some whites planned to attempt a coup d'état if a black majority government took power.[6]

The riots also marked a period of rising tension and a break for the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), the main political rivals for the ABAKO. Starting with the unrest in January, both of the nationalist parties' influence expanded outside the major cities for the first time, and nationalist demonstrations and riots became a regular occurrence over the next year,[9] bringing large numbers of black people from outside the évolué class into the independence movement. Because the bulk of the ABAKO leadership was arrested, leaving the MNC in an advantageous position.[10]

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