Protesters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni ransacked an Ebola isolation centre on Thursday and it is possible that patients fled, Aruna Abedi, a senior health official, said.


The protests came in response to the decision by Congo’s electoral commission on Wednesday to exclude the cities of Beni, Butembo and their surrounding areas from voting in Sunday’s presidential election due to the Ebola outbreak and militia violence.


Protesters also attacked the office of the government agency coordinating the Ebola response in Beni before U.N. peacekeepers pushed them back, Abedi said.