The opponent has called for marches twice a week against inflation and against the power he continues to accuse of having ” stolen the presidential election. Overall, however, the day was less tense and less violent than previous protests.
With our correspondent in Nairobi, Florence Morice
The police deployment was important but less visible and the traffic more fluid this morning than during the previous events, even if many shops in the capital have still remained closed as a security measure. Sporadic clashes erupted in several popular areas of Nairobi such as Kibrera and Mathare, as well as in the western town of Kisumu. Small groups of young people set up barricades and set fire to tires in the face of riot police determined to disperse them and prevent them from progressing through the town with tear gas… In Mathare, residents implored the police to withdraw to allow them to resume their activities, very disrupted since last Monday.
Raila Odinga defied the ban too. Accompanied in particular by his running mate Martha Karua, he went to the south of the capital where he castigated in front of supporters ” broken promises of the power in place, in allusion to the cost of living which increases while William Ruto had promised to tackle it as a priority. If a majority of Kenyans complain of being suffocated by the rise in the price of basic necessities, the mobilization at the call of Raila Odinga remains however moderate.