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By Jonny Hogg
KINSHASA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - At least one person was shot dead and two wounded when police and opposition supporters clashed in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa early on Tuesday.
The violence flared after the offices of opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi's UDPS party were attacked and torched by his opponents in a sign of growing tensions ahead of an election scheduled for November, witnesses said.
"People were throwing stones, some of them had empty bottles," one of the witnesses, Tresor Nkuna said.
Police fired shots and at least one person was hit before being carried away by other protesters, according to video images of the clashes seen by Reuters. The man who was shot was later seen dead by a Reuters witness at the Bondeko Clinic.
The clinic's administrator, Desire Kabongo, said two other protesters had been injured by bullets in the clashes.
The UDPS offices were attacked by about 40 people, some wearing T-shirts of President Joseph Kabila's PPRD party, according to another witness, who asked not to be named.
Parts of the building were burned, windows were smashed, and a picture of Tshisekedi damaged, a Reuters witness said.
Kinshasa's police chief General Jean de Dieu Oleko told Reuters by telephone that police had been deployed to secure the roads, but gave no further details.
A UDPS official said Tshisekedi supporters gathered in the area in part to protect Tshisekedi's house nearby.
"When daylight came the police attacked us," UDPS Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo said. "It is important to make known to the PPRD and to the regime of Kabila that UDPS is a non-violent party, but it is not a weak party." (Reporting by Jonny Hogg; Editing by Richard Valdmanis)
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