Protest Meeting Over Patrice Lumumba's Assassination | Cuba | February 1961

Thursday, February 16th 1961.

Footage of a protest held outside the Belgian Embassy in Havana Cuba after news of the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of Congo, spread all over the world.

Lumumba had been killed in secret on January 17th by an execution squad commanded by a Belgian officer.

Reuters text from 1961:

"Crowds including large numbers of students held a meeting outside the Belgian Embassy in Havana, Feb 16, in protest against the "brutal assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba".

Carrying flags and banners, the crowd shouted "Cuba Yes, Yankees No", "Congo Yes, Belgians No", Now more than ever the Congo is bound to win", and "Lumumba is dead but not his ideas".

Watched by police and militia, the demonstrators marched up and down the street in front of the Embassy. Time and again, groups stopped at the main gate to voice their protest, supporting the "Congolese people and all nations who are fighting for peace in the world", and condemning "Belgian and American imperialism".

Source Reuters News Archive.