DAKAR, Senegal >> The United States on Tuesday advised U.S. nationals to leave Congo on commercial flights after hundreds of protesters attacked several foreign embassies and a United Nations building in the capital, Kinshasa.

The attacks came amid fury over a rebel offensive backed by neighboring Rwanda in Congo’s east. Anger at Congo’s foreign allies has been rising over what is seen as their failure to stop an assault on the key eastern city of Goma by M23, a militia that the United Nations and United States say is supported and directed by Rwanda.

“Due to an increase in violence throughout the city of Kinshasa, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa advises U.S. citizens to shelter-in-place and then safely depart while commercial options are available,” a security alert published on the embassy’s website read.

The embassy issued the notice at the end of a violent day in Kinshasa.

Protesters burned tires and threw stones in front of the U.S. Embassy’s main compound, according to local news reports, and breached the site of a new embassy building that is under construction, according to a U.S. official in Kinshasa who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve staff safety. The site was later secured and no one was injured, the official said.

Protesters attacked the French Embassy in the city, causing a fire, according to Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, who denounced the violence as “unacceptable,” although he said the blaze had been brought under control.

Videos distributed by the Reuters news agency showed protesters breaking into the French Embassy and leaving the building with looted furniture. “Macron kills in Congo,” read a message left on an embassy wall, referring to President Emmanuel Macron of France, a favored ally of Rwanda. “You have long betrayed us.”

Protesters also stormed the Rwandan Embassy, which was emptied in recent days after Congo expelled Rwandan diplomats.

“Rwanda makes our brothers in the east suffer,” said Taki Gires, a 21-year-old protester who broke into the embassy.

“We are looting their embassy not to get richer, but as an act of sabotage that they will remember, because we can’t remain victims while they live in peace,” he added.

Demonstrators also attacked the Ugandan and Belgian embassies, as well as the office of the U.N. humanitarian agency in Congo, according to a United Nations official, who referred to the situation as “total chaos.”

The M23 rebels have been fighting against Congolese armed forces and allied armed groups for territorial control in the mineral-rich eastern regions of Congo. Their latest offensive has displaced more than 500,000 people since the beginning of the year, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

As the angry protests erupted in Kinshasa, gunshots rang out across Goma, 1,000 miles to the east, an area that was once a refuge for people fleeing M23’s advance as well as violence from other armed groups. Many are now fleeing again amid the M23 rebels’ fight to completely capture the city.