Kenyan Riot Police Disperse Protesters
TOM MALITI
Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya
- Riot police fired water cannons and tear gas to
disperse protesters angry at the government's failure this week
to introduce a new Kenyan constitution reducing the president's
powers. At least 16 people were hurt, an official said.
Hundreds of demonstrators, waving white flags as they marched
to a park for the rally, were chased by club-wielding police on
horseback, on foot and in trucks with water cannons.
The rally, which had been banned by authorities, was
supported by the main opposition party and a faction of the
governing coalition to press the government to enact a new
constitution after it missed its own deadline to do so.
Protesters burned roadside palm trees, demolished kiosks and
vandalized police booths and shops. Businesses closed and people
rushed away from the central business district. A police
helicopter hovered over the riot.
"Kenyans do not fall asleep, the struggle is still
on," the protesters chanted. They also shouted to police:
"You use our (taxpayer) money to beat us. What sin have we
committed?"
Farid Abdulkadir, a Red Cross official, said initial reports
indicated at least 16 people were injured.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi warned American citizens Saturday
to avoid the city's downtown area because of the protests.
On New Year's Eve, President Mwai Kibaki promised Kenyans a
new constitution by June 30.
But in an unscheduled TV address broadcast Monday, he said
the new charter may be delayed until next year because of court
challenges and disagreements in his governing coalition.
A 629-member National Constitutional Conference approved a
draft constitution in March that would reduce the president's
powers and hand much of the executive's authority to a proposed
prime minister.
But two separate court rulings stalled the constitutional
reform after judges said that the conference was not
representative of Kenya's 30 million people.
Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition also has bickered over
the draft. Kibaki on Wednesday demoted three Cabinet ministers
who had publicly insisted that he enact a new constitution by
the end of June as promised.
If enacted, the draft charter will replace a constitution
that went into effect at independence from Britain in 1963.
Since then the constitution has been amended several times to
give the president immense powers.
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