Anti-electoral commission protesters shot in Kenya

By Magdalene Mukami and Andrew Wasike

Nairobi

Police in Kenya shot at protesters with live bullets Friday injuring two who were rushed to the hospital.

The Friday protests across the country were focused on unseating Kenya’s electoral body officials after poll rigging allegations.

In the Kenyan capital, police officers armed with batons engaged protesters in running battles arresting the few who were cornered. Police also fired teargas to push crowds loyal to Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga out of the central business district.

Protesters looted and smashed windows of vehicles belonging to innocent people who were still in their offices, a policeman who spoke to Anadolu Agency said.

"We were forced to drive them out of the town, look at the damage they have brought, they are not peaceful," he said.

In the opposition stronghold, two people were shot with live bullets and were admitted at Saint Paul Hospital where doctors confirmed to local media that they had indeed been shot.

Homa Bay County Police Commander Marius Tum also confirmed the incident to local media adding that the situation degenerated due to massive looting in the town. He added that he had strictly advised his men to use rubber bullets.

The opposition in Kenya under former Prime Minister Raila Odinga -- who filed a petition at the Supreme Court leading to the annulment of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Aug. 8 election win -- has vowed not to take part in the elections if 12 officials from the commission who allegedly aided the ruling party in poll rigging were not dismissed.

Odinga has called on his supporters to go to the streets every Monday and Friday until they are removed.

Also on Friday, a huge inferno gutted through Kenya's Gikomba Market the largest open-air second-hand clothes market in East and Central Africa destroying property worth millions of dollars.

Some opposition supporters like Anthony Odongo claimed that the fire was started by a supporter of the ruling party to remove focus from the protest but Kenyatta rejected the allegations calling for a probe to establish the cause of the fire.

"Security agencies should move with speed to investigate the cause of the fire, and those believed to be behind the criminal act should face the full force of the law,” said Kenyatta adding that his government would support the traders who had lost their property in the fire.