…As Bombing at market in southern Thailand kills 3, injures 18***

At least six people have been killed in widespread protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, United Nations sources say.

Protesters are demanding that President Joseph Kabila whose expected term of office expired more than a year ago – should step down.

Police have used tear gas to disperse protesters in Kinshasa, where UN peacekeepers have been deployed.

Similar demonstrations three weeks ago led to a number of deaths.

A spokesman for the UN mission to the country said about 50 people were injured in Sunday’s clashes and that dozens had been arrested.

Jean-Baptise Sondji, a former minister, told AFP he had witnessed the death of a 16-year-old girl outside a church in the Kitambo area of the capital.

“An armoured car passed in front of the church. They began firing live bullets, I protected myself… a girl who was at the left side door of the church was hit,” he said.

The widespread marches had been called for by the country’s Catholic Church, which appealed for a large but peaceful demonstration.

The Congolese authorities, however, banned the marches and no formal permission was given. On Saturday evening, internet access in the capital Kinshasa was cut.

Police warned that they would not tolerate “any attempt to disturb public order.”

Despite the ban, protesters gathered after morning Mass on Sunday to march through the streets, accompanied by members of the clergy.

Local media outlet Radio Okapi reported protests in Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Bukavu. Other cities remain quiet, it reports, though a heavy police presence has been seen in many places.

Radio Okapi also later said that one of its journalists had been wounded by a bullet in the Lemba district of the capital.

The UN mission in the country – which has been running continuously since 1999 – said it deployed its troops to the streets to observe and record any violence.

In the meantime, Police say three people have been killed and 18 injured by a bomb that exploded in a market in southern Thailand.

Police Lt. Eakapong Rattanachai said an attacker parked a motorcycle rigged with explosives near the market and bought goods there to blend in with the crowd Monday morning.

Eakapong said the motorcycle bomb exploded when the attacker left the market area, killing three and injuring 18.

It happened in Yala province, one of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces where Muslim militants have waged a yearslong insurgency.

The three provinces are the only ones with Muslim majorities in the predominantly Buddhist country.

More than 6,500 people have been killed in the violence since 2004.

BBC with additional report from Fox News