With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa

Since this morning and for the second consecutive day, the situation has been very tense at Parliament. Pickup trucks, barricades... Hundreds of police officers were deployed from early this morning. Tension escalated when Jean-Marc Kabund, interim president of the ruling party UDPS (Union for Democracy and Social Progress), joined deputies in the chamber demanding the resignation of pro-Kabila Assembly president Jeanine Mabunda and her bureau (the collegial body that leads the lower chamber).

Broken chairs, destroyed furniture... A full-fledged brawl broke out at the National Assembly between activists of the president and those of his predecessor. The Kabila camp members wanted to prevent the holding of the plenary session intended to examine petitions filed over the weekend. It was officially Jean Nguvulu, the secretary general of the National Assembly, who had convened it. But there is some confusion surrounding what happened in recent days.

Confusion over the National Assembly's secretary general

On Saturday, Kabila's FCC (Common Front for Congo) said that Jean Nguvulu had been kidnapped by the presidential camp. Today still, members of his family were complaining on a local radio station about not having seen him since. Witnesses confirm seeing him within the Assembly's premises, and petitioning deputies insist that it was the pro-Kabila forces who sequestered him.

Much confusion reigns then as the presidential camp promises that debate and voting on these petitions must take place this evening. It remains to be seen what the reaction will be from Joseph Kabila's camp, which denounces the illegality of this entire procedure.

The joint United Nations human rights office in Kinshasa "firmly condemns the violence within and around the Palace of the People, incompatible with the requirements of a democratic society".