Congo’s enormous parliament building was financed by the PRC and completed in 1979, although it was only used as a parliament after Laurent Kabila came to power in 1997. It shares its name, proportions and aesthetic with the Chinese ‘Great Hall of the People’.
The building was the site of a violent protest in 2015 when people gathered to object to Joseph Kabila’s proposed postponement of the 2016 elections. More than 40 people were killed in the violence.
