KINSHASA (Reuters) – Gunfire could be heard in several districts of Kinshasa early on Tuesday, as demonstrators demanded that President Joseph Kabila step down after his mandate expired at midnight.

Reuters witnesses in various parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city heard repeated gunshots, and one saw youths burning tires in the street. Protesters also set off fireworks and cheered, a Reuters witness said.

Demonstrators in the districts of Kalamu, Matete and Lingwala as well as at Kinshasa University blew whistles to signal to Kabila that it was time to leave. Students at the university also burned tires, multiple witnesses said.

Kabila faces potentially one of his biggest challenges since he took power after his father was assassinated in 2001. Critics accuse him of clinging to power by letting his term run out with no election to name his successor expected until 2018.

He has rarely spoken about the issue in public, but his allies say the election was delayed because of logistical and financial problems. The constitutional court has ruled that he can stay on until it takes place.

(Reporting by Tim Cocks and Aaron Ross, additional reporting by Amedee Mwarabu in Kinshasa, editing by G Crosse)