Congo ? Thousands of opposition supporters clashed with riot police Tuesday, burning President Joseph Kabila’s campaign posters before historic weekend elections meant to bring lasting peace to Congo.

Security forces swung batons and fired tear gas at protesters, who threw Molotov cocktails and chunks of masonry in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa. There was no immediate word on injuries.

Young people made up most of the seething 4,000-person crowd in an outlying slum.

The atmosphere is tense in the Central African nation ahead of Sunday’s vote – the first free, multiparty elections for president and parliament in decades.

The protesters, representing two opposition parties, alleged that irregularities in the voters’ roll and the printing of 5 million spare ballot papers suggest the vote is being fixed. Election authorities reject the charges.