Kenyan police shoot protesters

Government troops fired at people who answered the Kenyan opposition's
call for nationwide protests of the outcome of last month's
presidential elections on Wednesday. Police shot three protesters in Kibera, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, a witness told CNN, and other officers fired tear gas to try to thwart thousands of protesters.

Officers and paramilitary forces were out in force around Kibera and in other parts of the Kenyan capital.

They also patrolled the western town of Kisumu, in the Rift Valley, where many shops were closed in anticipation of violence.

The tense day follows the election Tuesday of an opposition
candidate as house speaker in a contentious session of parliament full
of angry accusations and heckling.

Opposition party candidate
Kenneth Marende was elected speaker in the third round of voting,
winning 105-101 over the government's candidate, Francis Ole Kaparo,
who had been speaker since 1993.

Another opposition lawmaker, Farah Maalim, was later elected deputy speaker.

The votes marked a significant win for opposition leader Raila
Odinga, who was in the chamber for the vote. He refused to look at
President Mwai Kibaki as the government leader entered.

It was
the first session of parliament since the disputed presidential and
parliamentary elections last month. Kibaki says voters re-elected him,
but Odinga has contested that result.

International election monitors have said the election was flawed.

Odinga's opposition party has scheduled protests around Kenya for Wednesday.

Residents interviewed on the streets of the capital did not appear to look forward to the call for action.

"Mass action is not a good idea," one man said.

"Me personally, I'm afraid," said one woman.

The outcome of the December 27 election sparked widespread and
ethnically motivated violence which saw more than 600 people killed and
thousands of others displaced.

Supporters of Kibaki ,
a member of the Kikuyu tribe, battled with supporters of Odinga, a
member of the Luo tribe, in bloody street battles that often involved
machetes. And Kenya, long one of the most stable and economically developed nations in East Africa, descended into chaos.

Odinga said that, despite the violence, he would be prepared in a
new government to work with, but not under, Kibaki. He called on the
president to negotiate on power-sharing and to set a date for new
elections.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
had planned to arrive in Kenya on Tuesday to mediate the dispute, but
he postponed the effort for a couple of days because he was hit with
illness, his office said. They said Annan would try to make the trip as
soon as possible.