Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse a crowd that was protesting on Sunday against the overnight murder of four people in a slum in the capital Nairobi, a Reuters witness said.
Parts of the city have been gripped by tension since Friday when at least five people were killed in violence between the police and opposition supporters who were accompanying their leader Raila Odinga after a trip abroad.
Japheth Koome, the police commander in the city, said investigations had started after four bodies were found in the Mathare Area Four slum on Sunday morning.
“We went there and found those bodies with injuries,” Koome told a news conference, describing the murders as a criminal act rather than ethnic-driven violence.
The violence comes a day before the Supreme Court rules on two cases seeking to nullify the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in a repeat vote in October.
Odinga visited the scene of the killings on Sunday and later police fired teargas to disperse crowds that were gathering to protest.
NAN reports that police on Friday fired tear gas at the convoy in which Odinga was travelling and used water cannon as they tried to stop it reaching the capital’s main business district.
Some protesters threw stones at police.
Two vehicles, including a police truck, were set on fire.
A Reuters photographer saw two bodies with gunshot wounds as police and protesters fought on one of the main roads leading to the business district.
Police said five people were stoned to death by angry mobs after they were caught stealing and denied they had used excessive force against the opposition supporters.
“These incidences occurred before the police arrived at the various scenes,” the police service said in a statement.
Police retreated several times along the route after the protesters were unmoved by the teargas and water cannon spray.
They finally held their ground near the city’s main park, where Odinga, who just returned from the United States, intended to address a rally that had been banned.
He blamed President Kenyatta for the violence.
“My anger is with that guy called Uhuru Kenyatta. I went abroad… After you welcomed me well, he sent policemen to teargas you, to beat my people, to fire bullets at them. Isn’t this barbaric?,” he told his supporters after driving to safety.
Odinga has called for a “National Resistance Movement” to protest against the outcome of a repeat presidential election in October which saw Kenyatta win a second, five-year term with 98 percent of the vote after Odinga boycotted the contest.
Only 39 per cent of registered voters took part.
The repeat poll was ordered by the Supreme Court after it annulled the results of the August election, won by Kenyatta, over procedural irregularities.
The court will rule on Monday on cases that seek to nullify the rerun election.
The political crisis has stirred fears for the stability of Kenya, a regional hub for trade, diplomacy and security.
Earlier on Friday, demonstrators threw up burning barricades on Mombasa Road, the highway that links Nairobi’s downtown business district and the airport.
Despite a partial police ban on protests in the capital, hundreds of people had gathered in the morning near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to await Odinga’s return.
Police fired into the air to disperse them.
Once Odinga landed, motorcycle taxi drivers and people on foot shouted their support as the motorcade, which included lawmakers from Odinga’s opposition coalition, began moving toward central Nairobi.
Dozens of international flights depart and arrive daily at Nairobi’s main airport.
The national airport authority said on Twitter just before midday that operations were running normally.
Kenya Airways said it had been “impacted” by the disruptions around the airport and offered to book travellers who missed their flights on subsequent ones.
Kenya’s prolonged election season has disrupted its economy.
Human rights groups say at least 66 people have died in bloodshed surrounding the two elections.
Ahead of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Kenya Airways’ chairman told an investor briefing on Friday: “Hopefully we don’t have another presidential election so we can get on with life.”
Reuters/NAN.