Four died in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, as security personnel opened fire and used teargas to scatter large crowds at a stadium where the body of opposition leader Raila Odinga lay in state.
Odinga, one of Kenya’s leading politicians for decades and a former political prisoner who ran for president five times without success, passed away on 15th October at the age of 80 in India, where he had been undergoing medical care.
With thousands of his supporters on the streets from early morning, chaos erupted when a huge crowd breached a gate at Nairobi’s main stadium, prompting soldiers to fire in the air, a Reuters witness said.
Two individuals were shot dead at the stadium, a police source informed Reuters. KTN News and Citizen TV later reported that four people had been killed and scores injured. Security forces opened fire and then police fired teargas to scatter thousands of mourners, the two broadcasters said, leaving the stadium empty.
Earlier in the day, thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi’s international airport, interrupting a ceremony for the president, William Ruto, and other officials to receive Odinga’s body with military honours. The incident prompted a two-hour suspension of airport operations.
Crowds also flooded nearby roads and tried to breach parliament, where the government had originally scheduled the public viewing.
Although best recognized as an opposition figure, Odinga was elected prime minister in 2008 and also formed a political alliance with Ruto last year in a career characterized by changing allegiances.
He inspired fervent loyalty among followers, particularly in his Luo constituency centered in western Kenya, many of whom feel he was robbed of the presidency by vote-rigging.
Most of Odinga’s mourners, who were still unborn in 1991 when Kenya transitioned to a multi-party democracy, acknowledged Odinga’s work as an activist.
Felix Ambani Uneck, a student at the university, had this to say at the stadium: “He struggled relentlessly for multi-party democracy, and we are reaping those freedoms today due to his struggle.”
