TUESDAY, 5.00PM
VIOLENT confrontations between students and Kenyan riot police which reignited in Nairobi on Monday continued on Tuesday. Cars were damaged and road signs ripped down, but no injuries were reported.
Students from Kenya Polytechnic clashed with riot police outside the High Court building where 14 of their colleagues were due to appear in connection with Monday’s violence. On Monday, angry students burned cars and threw stones and brought traffic to a halt along the central Haile Selassie Avenue to protest the deaths of two fellow students killed by police during last week’s pro-democracy rallies.
At least nine, and as many as 16, people were killed on July 7 when police opened fire and clubbed demonstrators in seven towns to prevent them from holding rallies to demand constitutional, legal and administrative reforms ahead of this year’s elections.
The High Court building is three blocks away from the polytechnic campus, which authorities ordered closed after Monday’s riots. But clashes erupted again early on Tuesday when some students tried to force their way onto the campus, stoned passing vehicles and engaged police, who used clubs to disperse them.
The situation in the capital had reverted to calm by late afternoon.