Residents burn an Ebola treatment center in Congo as anger grows over the outbreak

People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, a town in eastern Congo at the outbreak’s center, after local youths were stopped from retrieving the body of a man they believed had died of Ebola. Police intervened to calm the situation but failed, and youths broke into the center, burned objects, and appeared to burn a body stored there. Aid workers fled in vehicles. The incident reflects difficulties health workers face when strict Ebola containment practices conflict with local burial rites. Authorities manage burial of suspected victims to reduce transmission risk because Ebola bodies can be highly contagious and funerals can spread infection, which can anger families who are denied burial access.

""The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful," said Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area. "The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That's the situation." An AP journalist saw people break into the center and set fire to objects inside and also to what appeared to be the body of at least one suspected Ebola victim that was being stored there."

Read at abc7.com