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Friday, October 20, 2017

Four dead, seven arrested in anti IEBC protests -Police

Four people have been killed and seven arrested since the anti-IEBC protests begun, Police spokesman George Kinoti has said.

The figure is far less than the one released by Amnesty International, that placed the number of deaths to at least 33.

More on this: Police dispute Amnesty report detailing 33 post-election killings

In a statement on Friday, Kinoti said the four lost their lives between October 2 and 16 during confrontations with police officers.

"Despite the frequent accusations levelled on police on wanton killings, we have only recorded the deaths which occurred as a result of police intervention to stop violent demonstrations," he said.

Kinoti said the seven people who were arrested during the melee have been charged in court noting that 10 officers were also injured.

"In the instances where the death occurred, Investigations have been launched whose outcome will be made public," Kinoti said.

Kinoti further noted that over Sh 6 million was lost when protesters raided a Supermarket in Kisumu county.

On October 6, NASA supporters broke into Tumaini Supermarket and stole items including food from the eatery during anti-IEBC protests.

Police were forced to lob tear gas canisters and shoot in the air to disperse supporters opposed to the retention of the IEBC team ahead of the October 26 vote.

Several of them broke into the supermarket, defied workers who tried to stop them and injured some of them.

More on this: NASA demos: Kisumu crowd rips through Tumaini Supermarket

"Two supermarket workers were injured by the goons," The police spokesman said.

Kinoti noted that violent demonstrators in Nairobi robbed motorists, destroyed two police cars and seven private motor vehicles.

"Some armed with knives stole mobile phones and other valuables from innocent passers-by," he said.

The Amnesty report said the deaths were caused by bullets fired by police who moved in to contain unrest that sporadically erupted mainly in NASA strongholds.

But Kinoti said: "We wish to refute the claims as totally misleading and based on falsehoods. We are studying the report and will issue a comprehensive report later."

Read: Police dispute Amnesty report detailing 33 post-election killings

The opposition, led by Raila Odinga, has said it will boycott the next week's repeat polls unless several demands, including the sacking of IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba, are met.

Raila met the chairman of the election board, Wafula Chebukati, on Thursday and later told reporters that if there were serious consultations and serious reforms, the opposition could review its boycott.

IEBC has said the election will go ahead and Uhuru has insisted the vote must be held.


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