Chaos as Kenya Police Fire Tear Gas into Crowd for Presidential Inauguration
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of thousands of people trying to force their way into a stadium to attend the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Three people were shot by police, according to the Nairobi News.
Security forces patrolled the capital in preparation for President Kenyatta's inauguration and police sealed off an area where the opposition held a rally, The Express reported.
The police, wearing riot gear, threw teargas into residential home and beat up some members of the crowd, according to reports.
About 20 heads of state had been expected to attend, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron is currently on a three day tour of West Africa.
More than 70 people have been killed in political violence this election season, mostly by the police.
Kenyatta won a second five-year term on October 26 in a repeat presidential election boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
The election has divided Kenya and blunted growth in East Africa’s richest economy.
The Supreme Court nullified the first presidential election, in August, over irregularities.
Supporters of Kenyatta - who won with 98 percent of the vote after Odinga's boycott - are urging the opposition to engage in talks and move on.
Kenyatta told a church service on Sunday, "Our responsibility after the political competition is to come together and work to build the nation."
Hours before the inauguration was due to start, 60,000 Kenyatta supporters, many clad in the red and yellow Jubilee party colors and carrying Kenyan flags, filled the stadium where the ceremony will take place.
However those who were kept outside, overwhelmed police and streamed in.
Officers then fired teargas in a bid to control them.
Eunice Jerobon, a trader who travelled overnight from the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet for the inauguration, said before the disturbance, "I'm sure Uhuru will be able to bring people together and unite them so we can all work for the country.”
But supporters of Odinga say such talk of unity is tantamount to surrender.
They have accused the ruling party of stealing the election, corruption, directing abuse by the security forces and neglecting vast swathes of the country, including Odinga's heartland in the west.
Odinga’s opposition party, the National Super Alliance said in a statement, "A return to the political backwardness of our past is more than unacceptable. It is intolerable… This divide cannot be bridged by dialogue and compromise."
The opposition planned to hold a prayer meeting in the capital on Tuesday, saying it wanted to commemorate the lives of Odinga supporters killed during confrontations with the security forces over the election period.
