A group of DRC Tutsis, who lamented voter suppression were guarded by armed police as they registered to vote in the eastern town of Nyangezi in February ahead of the December 20 elections. One newly registered voter at the enrolment center had a bruised face and cradled her wrist after she was allegedly beaten with sticks and rocks by youths on her way to sign up. The Tutsi minority has long faced discrimination in Democratic Republic of Congo due to their ethnic link to Rwanda's Tutsi community.