At least six tractor-trailers bringing relief supplies to nearby refugee camps were stranded at the border because they were unable to navigate through the makeshift barricades.
Some refugees joined in as about 5,000 townspeople filled the streets, throwing rocks and taunting police after a Zairean soldier shot and killed a local man who had been changing money on the black market.
"Throw the soldiers out," protesters chanted as others carried a wooden stretcher bearing the body of the man shot Wednesday night.
Demonstrators said they were tired of robberies and extortion committed by soldiers called to Goma last month to keep order after nearly 1 million Rwandan refugees surged over the border into their community.
Soldiers fired in the air at least twice Thursday to send the protesters scattering, but the crowds regathered each time. Demonstrators threw signposts, debris and half-meter chunks of volcanic rock onto a 1.6-kilometer long stretch of the main road through town.
Goma has become increasingly tense since the refugees arrived in mid-July. Most have been moved to a half-dozen camps in areas kilometers away from Goma. But thousands of refugees still live on traffic circles, in doorways and in almost any other available space in the town of 80,000 people.
Soldiers have been stealing goods and extorting money from aid organizations, refugees and anyone else they encounter in the town and at the airport. They have been seen helping themselves to relief supplies unloaded from the 30 to 40 aid planes landing each day.
Money also has become a sensitive issue as prices for everything have soared and the value of the Zairean currency has plummeted in the city now flooded with dollars brought in by aid workers, journalists and other foreigners.
In the largest of the refugee camps, meanwhile, the United Nations on Thursday suspended food distribution because another man was beaten to death in a melee that erupted while food was being handed out the day before.
Ray Wilkinson, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said the motives for the killings were suspect.
He suggested some former Rwandan government officials or defeated army troops could be using the chaos at the food distributions sites to attack people who have been urging refugees to return to Rwanda.
The UN, aid agencies and the new Rwandan government were continuing to struggle Thursday to prevent a new refugee exodus to Zaire and coax millions back to their homes.
The UN high commissioner for refugees said five clergymen from camps around Goma were visiting the capital.
"They've been here for three days, talking to people and officials in border areas and Kigali," said UNHCR spokesman Chris Janowsky, adding they would soon return from Kigali to Goma. "We hope this will break the ice" with the refugees, he said, "and their message will be positive that the situation is calm and safe." He added, "We hope there will be more coming."
(AP, Reuters)
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