Kenyan police use tear gas and live ammunition

Kenyan police fire tear gas and bullets at stone-throwing protesters this morning as polls opened for a re-run of the country’s presidential election.  

Nairobi slums descended into violence as opposition demonstrators set fires and blocked roads to polling stations.  

At least one protester has been killed after he was was shot in the thigh by police and bled out in hospital.   

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking a second term, has urged for calm while opposition leader Raila Odinga has pulled out and told supporters to boycott the vote.  

The 72-year-old Odinga, who has lost three previous elections claiming fraud in two of them, said his party would transform into ‘a resistance movement’.  

He declared: ‘We will embark on a national campaign of defiance of illegitimate governmental authority and non-cooperation with all its organs.’  

The vote is a re-run of August’s election which was annulled by Kenya’s Supreme Court after officials announced results before they were verified.  

Compared with August’s election, there was only a trickle of voters at polling stations - leading to fears the credibility of the election has been undermined.   

In the western city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold, several polling stations failed to open and police fired teargas to disperse protesters throwing stones.CAP: Kenyan police officials walk towards a group of demonstrators who were preventing voters from accessing a polling station in Mathare, Nairobi (DM)  
Kenya, (Daily Mail), 
26 October 2017