KENYA: Kenyan riot police clash with protesters in Nairobi on the second day of opposition protests against President Kibaki's disputed re-election

Record ID: 361561

  • Title: KENYA: Kenyan riot police clash with protesters in Nairobi on the second day of opposition protests against President Kibaki's disputed re-election
  • Date: 17th January 2008
  • Summary: POLICE GUARDING PARK ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF CLOSED SHOPS PARKED CARS / CLOSED SHOPS IN THE BACKGROUND POLICEMAN ON PHONE OUTSIDE CLOSED SHOP PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA34MZ4PJVJRBJ4HH14ZM5LAQ99
  • Story Text: Kenyan riot police clash with protesters in Nairobi on the second day of opposition protests against President Kibaki's disputed re-election.
    Kenyan riot police fired teargas at hundreds of protesters blocking a road near Nairobi's Mathare slum as a second day of demonstrations against President Mwai Kibaki's disputed election began on Thursday (January 17), witnesses said.
    Gunshots were also heard during the morning from a slum area of the western opposition stronghold town of Kisumu, which saw the worst violence on Wednesday, the first of three days of nationwide demonstrations called by the opposition.
    The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) hopes three days of protests will put pressure on Kibaki, which it accuses of stealing the Dec. 27 presidential election.
    But police have banned the rallies, and took tough action against protesters on Wednesday, killing at least three during a day of fighting in Kisumu.
    Earlier on Thursday, opposition hotspots were quiet but tension high as paramilitary police stood guard at the venue of the planned opposition rally.

    "We are pretending there is no problem, so what we are trying to do is to sweep everything under the carpet and pretend nothing happened and continue like everything is the way it has always been, but until that injustice is addressed in one way or the other, whether we have calm or not it is not the same as peace, because at one point along the road it is still going to explode, and it will be ignited by a very small thing," said one Nairobi resident.
    Human rights activists say the government has been heavy-handed in dispersing protesters. Human Rights Watch said police have killed at least 47 people during the post-election turmoil. Around 620 have been killed in a combination of clashes with police and attacks on tribes and people suspected of having supported Kibaki.
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