Police fired tear gas and
water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi against an
election oversight body that they say is biased and should be scrapped. Reuter’s
reports that 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.
"For free and fair
election, IEBC must go," read a banner held aloft by one demonstrator on
Monday.
As numbers grew, police fired
tear gas and water cannon from trucks parked nearby at protesters. A Reuters
witness saw one protester carrying a bag of stones, while others threw them at
police ranks. 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.
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