Kenya police use teargas, at opposition demo
NAIROBI - Kenyan police fired teargas and shots in the air yesterday as hundreds of demonstrators marched through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul an election.
Reuters television footage showed a sport utility vehicle ploughing into some of the protesters, severely injuring three, but it was not immediately clear who was responsible and the police made no immediate comment on the incident.
Kenya is due on October 26 to repeat a presidential election after the Supreme Court nullified an August 8 vote due to procedural irregularities. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the August election, will face opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Uncertainty over the coming election has created turmoil in the East African nation, which is a regional trade hub and staunch Western ally.
As the demonstrators marched toward the election board in Nairobi, a Reuters journalist saw men in plain clothes near security forces fire shots in the air. Police on horseback set up blockades to prevent protesters from accessing some roads.
Police also used teargas in the western city of Kisumu, Odinga’s stronghold, to disperse protesters, though another demonstration in the coastal city of Mombasa passed peacefully.
Odinga’s opposition alliance is threatening to boycott the October vote unless the electoral board changes some personnel - a stance he declined yesterday to clarify, in comments that suggested he was keeping his options open for now.
“This is a democratic society we live in. If I choose not to participate in the pre-rigged election process, it is my democratic right. No court can order me to do so,” Odinga said in comments broadcast on Kenyan TV stations, without elaborating further.-REUTERS