Police accused of killing seven in Kenya protests

Opposition leaders accused Kenyan police of shooting dead seven of its supporters, as the country endured a second day of nation-wide protests at disputed elections. On day two, police managed to keep protesters penned into the shanty towns, far from the skyscrapers and plush hotels of Nairobi's city center. Baton-wielding officers rained blows on young men gathered in the slums, as teargas wafted through the streets. Losing opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who has accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the vote, said seven people had been killed by police during the demonstrations. "Under the orders of the government, police are executing innocent citizens at will while the world talks about dialogue," he said. "How do you dialogue with killers?" Police formed a human barrier around Kibera, home to about one million people, preventing opposition supporters making their way to Uhuru Park in Nairobi, where their leaders had planned to hold a mass rally. At first, officers were content to fire volleys of teargas and live rounds overhead. But with the crowds growing into a boisterous mob, about 150 officers charged into the slum using their batons to clear a path. Youths were seen to have been dragged to the ground, kicked and beaten. So far, Kibaki has refused to give ground to Odinga, insisting the opposition should use the courts if they believe they have been cheated. The opposition party called off the additional planned street protests in favor of an economic boycott after accusing police of shooting dead at least seven of its supporters on Jan. 17. The Orange Democratic Movement, led by Odinga, said that peaceful demonstrations against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki had been made impossible by the huge security crackdown. Several of the deaths were confirmed in addition to dozens of injuries. The Guardian saw a 52-year-old woman carried out of the Kibera slum after being shot twice by a security officer when she stepped out of her house to look for her son. Odinga spokesman, Salim Lone, confirmed the last day of protests, which were banned by police immediately after Kibaki's swearing-in on Dec. 30. "The security forces have caused too much suffering for us to continue with this form of mass action," said Lone. "We will instead be proceeding with an economic boycott of companies connected to top government officials or businessmen who supported Kibaki's campaign." Among the companies initially targeted will be Brookside Dairy, a huge business controlled by the family of the local government minister, Uhuru Kenyatta; the Citi Hoppa and Kenya Bus Services transport companies; and Equity Bank. With much of the economy controlled by elite members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, the opposition believes that financial damage to their holdings will put pressure on him to agree to a power-sharing deal. The seven dead were reported to have been shot in the Mathare slum and nearby estates in Nairobi as demonstrators tried to make their way to the city center. In Kibera, Nairobi's biggest slum, police and protesters played a cat and mouse game at the edge of the estate. But in the afternoon riot police moved inside, firing repeatedly into the air and, at times, at civilians. As a badly bleeding young man was carried out of Kibera, police fired teargas towards his helpers. Though there were police vehicles around, none would take the victim to hospital, and it was left to a passerby in a pickup to help out. Amina Athman, 52, was then carried out past the police lines. Her son, Lukuman, 28, who has learning difficulties, wandered out of Kibera a few minutes later, desperately looking for her. He eventually found her in the casualty ward at Kenyatta National hospital. She had been shot in the thigh and the lower back, with the second bullet lodging next to her spinal cord. "I was at home when the teargas started coming in the house," Athman said from her stretcher. "I went outside to get air and see where Lukuman was. That's when the policeman shot me. These people ..." Three young men with gunshot wounds were wheeled past her. In footage shown by local broadcaster KTN, a Kisumu policeman was seen firing his assault rifle at a young man who fell down, and then was kicked by the officer. KTN said the youth later died. Human Rights Watch said police have been heavy-handed and have killed at least 47 people during the post-election turmoil. Around 620 have been killed nationwide in attacks on tribes and people suspected of having supported Kibaki, and by police. A quarter of a million people, many of them members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, have been forced from their homes. International observers have said the vote fell short of democratic standards and both sides accuse the other of rigging.