Police and opposition supporters have clashed over the latter defied government ban and took their anti-IEBC demos some city centres.
In Mombasa, anti-riot police were not taking chances as they swarmed the coastal city’s streets to enforce the government directive.
TEARGAS
They dispersed a group of National Super Alliance (Nasa) supporters who had converged on Uhuru Gardens along Moi Avenue and later Nkrumah Road.
Deputy Governor William Kingi, Senator Mohammed Faki and Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir were leading the protests when police fired the corrosive gas.
The protesters and their leaders scampered for safety, with police in hot pursuit.
It was not immediately clear if the officers made any arrests and if the protesters suffered any injuries.A clash was looming in the capital Nairobi and Kisumu, the other cities the government has banned demos in central business district.
In Kisumu, Orange Democratic Movement, a Nasa affiliate party, said they would enter the CBD of the lakeside city.
Kisumu Senator Fred Outa told the Nation that they would stage demos in all parts of the town. ccording to Mr Outa, Interior acting Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who banned the demos in CBDs, does not have powers over the Constitution which “guarantees right to picket.”
By 9am, protesters had started gathering at Kondele area in readiness for their march to the offices of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in Milimani.
Police blocked major roads leading to town at the Aga Khan roundabout.
They used teargas to break up an assembly of Nasa supporters around the Aga Khan Hospital and the town’s main stag In Nairobi, there was an uneasy calm and normalcy ahead of the planned demos.
But the central business district of the capital was on a police lockdown.
Although a number of businesses were open in midmorning, police officers continued patrols along major streets of the capital.
Uhuru Park, where the demos have been starting, was cordoned off by police to allow military training ahead of the Mashujaa Day celebrations.
