Police Kill One Protester In Kenya Opposition Stronghold

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On Monday, a young protester was killed in West Kenya, as hundreds of opposition fans again in the streets demanded reforms ahead of the presidential election, AFP witnesses say. Police bumped a large crowd of protesters in the opposition fort of Kisumu, which fired the tires, blocked the roads and rocket policemen until daytime protests began just ten days before the election. One protester, Michael Odiambo, 21, said he saw a police gun down the young man whose body was seen by an AFP photographer.

“He was running to hide himself from police. A police man just pointed a gun at him and shot him from a distance. He was shot in the neck,” he said.

On Friday two protesters were shot dead by police in the town of Bondo, the rural home of opposition leader Raila Odinga some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kisumu.

“For how long will these senseless killings by police (go on)? Police cannot be shooting at protesters every other time. Is it a crime to protest?,” asked Margaret Akinyi, a vegetable vendor in Kisumu.
She said the young protester killed Monday was “felled by a bullet just next to me and we had to run, all of us. He is dead.”
In Nairobi a small crowd of protesters was swiftly dispersed.

A local human rights group said 37 people died in the immediate aftermath of the August 8 election that was later annulled by the Supreme Court which ordered a re-run.

A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International released Monday said it had confirmed 33 deaths at the hands of police.

Kenya’s police chief Joseph Boinnet said this report was “totally misleading and based on falsehoods”, adding police were only aware of 12 deaths which they were investigating.

The latest protests come as Kenya is mired in confusion over a presidential election that is due to take place on October 26.
Odinga last week announced his withdrawal from the race, arguing that this legally forces the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to begin the whole election from scratch.
He is hoping to win more time for reforms, after the Supreme Court annulled the first election for irregularities in the counting process and mismanagement by the IEBC.
But the IEBC appears to be pushing forward with plans for the vote, saying only that Odinga had yet to submit the required form to officially pull out of the race.
Odinga is hoping to maintain pressure from the street, increasing protests from three times a week to every day. ❤ ❤ 2348050417551 available for a good time ... spill TEA.... Easy on Shade #jaiyeorie