/ 8 July 1999

RIOTS IN NAIROBI

KENYAN police fought running battles with rioters after clashes erupted at an opposition rally in the capital Nairobi on Wednesday. The fighting started at the end of the rally, addressed by opposition parliamentarians and other reform activists, when several hundred young people started throwing stones at each other. The result was a running battle between opposition supporters on one side and pro-government activists backed by police on the other. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets in several parts of Nairobi to disperse striking mini-bus touts who erected barricades, set fire to tyres and stoned buses.