Kenyan Demonstrators Clash With Police In Second Day of Protests

The Kenyan police seemed to be ratcheting up the pressure against demonstrators and others on Thursday, the second day of opposition protests, arresting several journalists who were photographing street clashes and shooting tear gas at civilians in efforts to clear out neighborhoods.

In Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city and an opposition stronghold, the police squared off once again with stone-throwing mobs who said they were furious about last month’s flawed election in which Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, won by a wafer-thin margin.

A freelance photographer for The New York Times and a Japanese photojournalist who were covering the street clashes were detained for several hours and accused by police of instigating the violence. They were released without charges on Thursday afternoon.

Tensions have risen since a Kenyan television crew on Wednesday filmed a police officer in Kisumu killing an unarmed demonstrator. After the disturbing footage was aired, many opposition supporters vowed to take revenge.

In Kisumu, police fired tear gas at passers-by, yelling at them to clear the streets and stay inside their houses.

There was also reports of ethnically-driven fighting in the slums ringing Nairobi, the capital, on Thursday.

Police officials defended the heavy use of force and said that mobs carrying gasoline had been sighted in Nairobi’s business hub on Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon, police abruptly shut down the central business district and chased out thousands of office workers, beating some of those who did not move fast enough.