Protests in Kenya leave dozens hospitalised, many with bullet wounds

By Edwin Okoth and Humphrey Malalo

Fifty-six people were hospitalised, most of them with bullet wounds, after participating in rallies in Kenya on Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of deadly protests against a tax bill, a hospital source told Reuters.

Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets to commemorate last year’s demonstrations, in which more than 60 people died, with police firing tear gas and water cannon to disperse them in the capital Nairobi, according to local media and a Reuters witness.

It was not immediately clear who had shot them, and Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the injuries.

Some protesters clashed with police, and an official at the capital’s main Kenyatta National Hospital said the facility had received dozens of wounded people.

“As at 1600 hours, 56 patients had been admitted at KNH from the protest related injuries. Majority had rubber bullet injuries,” the hospital source told Reuters, adding