- Title: Kenyan police fire tear gas at stone-throwing protesters over vote body
- Date: 16th May 2016
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MAY 16, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE AND PROTESTERS PROTESTERS DANCING WITH EFFIGY/ CHANTING AND SINGING PROTESTERS MAN WITH ORANGES BLOWING KAZOO VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS PROTESTERS RUNNING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AS POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS AND USE WATER CANNON TO DISPERSE THEM VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CLIMBING OVER FENCE MORE OF PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY WATER CANNON DRIVING DOWN ROAD, PROTESTERS RUNNING POLICE FIRING TEAR GAS GROUP OF WOMEN WALKING WITH THEIR HANDS UP POLICE LAUNCHING TEAR GAS ABANDONED MOTOR CYCLE ON ROAD POLICEMAN CHASING AFTER PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF TEAR GAS CANISTER GOING OFF POLICEMEN HITTING PROTESTERS WITH BATONS AS THEY LEAVE BUILDING ANOTHER GROUP OF PROTESTERS THAT HAD SHELTERED IN HALLWAY OF A BUILDING BEING BEATEN AND CHASED BY POLICE WATER CANNON DRIVING DOWN DESERTED STREET SPENT TEAR GAS CANISTERS IN FRONT OF BUILDING VARIOUS OF PROTESTER BEING CHASED AND HIT BY POLICE ANOTHER CORNERED PROTESTER BEING BEATEN BY POLICE
- Embargoed: 31st May 2016 14:26
- Keywords: IEBC protesters protest riot police tear gas water cannon election bias Nairobi
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
- City: NAIROBI, KENYA
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0014I24VUV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi on Monday (May 16) against an election oversight body that they say is biased and should be scrapped.
Officers armed with batons confronted hundreds of protesters outside the offices of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the third clash over the issue in less than a month.
Kenya does not hold its next presidential and parliamentary polls until August 2017, but politicians are already trying to galvanise their supporters in a nation where violence erupted after the 2007 vote and the opposition disputed the 2013 result.
The opposition CORD coalition, led by Raila Odinga who lost the 2013 vote and unsuccessfully challenged the result in court, has accused the IEBC of bias and said its members should quit. IEBC officials have dismissed the charge and say they will stay.
As numbers grew, police fired tear gas and water cannon from trucks parked nearby at protesters. Police struck some protesters with batons.
Last week, police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters, some of whom threw stones. Police also used tear gas to disperse a protest last month.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is expected to seek re-election next year for a second and final term, has urged opponents not to take to the streets.
Despite the 2013 legal challenge, that vote proceeded smoothly and Odinga accepted the court ruling in a nation where ethnic loyalties usually trump policy among voters.
After the disputed 2007 vote, about 1,200 were killed in ethnic fighting. Western diplomats have urged the authorities to work carefully with citizens to ensure peaceful elections in 2017. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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