Top Stories
2 hours ago
One dead in Kenya as fresh opposition protests turn violent
NAIROBI - A young man was shot dead in Kenya on Monday as anti-government protests turned increasingly violent, with police firing tear gas at opposition leader Raila Odinga's convoy and his supporters, and looters going on the rampage.
The veteran politician has called for regular protests every Monday and Thursday, accusing President William Ruto of stealing last year's election and of failing to control the surging cost of living.
The protesters defied a warning by the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome that the demonstrations in Nairobi and in Odinga's stronghold of Kisumu were "illegal".
One man was shot dead in Kisumu, the head of the western Kenyan city's main hospital told AFP, the second fatality reported since the demonstrations kicked off last Monday, when a university student was killed by police fire.
"One person was shot dead. He is unknown, he is a young man," said George Rae, CEO of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching & Referral Hospital, without elaborating.
AFP/File | YASUYOSHI CHIBA
The organisation in charge of probing police misconduct said in a statement it had opened an investigation into "an incident where a man was shot and killed allegedly by the police."
Police deployed tear gas in Nairobi and Kisumu to disperse crowds, firing canisters at cars carrying journalists in the capital.
Officers also used tear gas and water cannon as Odinga's convoy moved through a congested neighbourhood in Nairobi, sending people running for cover.
"Police brutality against peaceful demonstrators increased today," Odinga wrote on Twitter.
Clashes also erupted in the city's biggest slum Kibera, with protesters setting tyres ablaze and gangs assaulting journalists.
Hundreds of looters descended on former president Uhuru Kenyatta's vast farm on the outskirts of Nairobi, stealing sheep and cutting trees before setting a section of the property on fire, local broadcaster NTV reported.
Kenyatta backed Odinga's candidacy in the presidential poll in August last year after falling out with his former deputy Ruto.