A demonstrator on the ground writhing in pain during Wednesday’s protest/MOSES MUOKI
KISUMU, Kenya, Oct 13 – Two persons were shot and killed in Bondo and two others wounded when police opened fire on a group pelting their station with rocks.
In Kisumu, another was shot in the head as demonstrators – in defiance of a ban placed on protests by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi – engaged police in running battles.
Others nursed bruises from blows rained on them by anti-riot police in a bid to keep them from congregating and ganging up on the officers under strict instruction from their superior.
Things in the Nairobi and Mombasa were not quite so violent as National Super Alliance legislators engaged the police in cat and mouse games as they attempted to gain entry to the central business district and make their way to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission headquarters on University Way.
Their efforts were however, on each occasion, thwarted by police wielding tear gas cannisters.
There was also a planned ambush by the so called Nairobi Business Community on Moi Avenue but what would have undoubtedly resulted in a bloody confrontation between the two groups was averted by the police.
The Opposition leaders have vowed to push forward with their agitation for staff changes at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission despite a ban placed by Matiangi on demonstrations within the central business districts of Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu.
He took the action in response to the destruction and disruption to business witnessed at their last demonstration on Wednesday.
NASA leaders have however voiced opposition to the directive on the grounds that it is punitive and unconstitutional in that it violates their freedom to assemble and picket.
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