NAIROBI (AFP) — Police fired on protestors in a Nairobi slum Wednesday as Kenya's opposition launched a series of planned rallies across the country in a fresh challenge to President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.
Three young supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were shot in the legs in Kibera slum, an AFP reporter said.
"They started shooting and three people have been wounded," said Frederick Ferdinand, an eyewitness.
In several other cities, police used tear gas and sticks to break up protesters attempting to march on stadiums and showgrounds.
The decision by Odinga's ODM to take to the streets for three days of rallies had heightened fears of a fresh eruption of violence.
At least 700 people have already been killed in riots, police raids and tribal violence following Kibaki's re-election last month, which Odinga charged he obtained by rigging the ballot.
As the protests picked up, Odinga vowed to press on.
"Nothing will stop us from mounting such rallies," he said in a statement.
"We showed in parliament yesterday that there will be no business as usual in our country," Odinga added, after the opposition on Tuesday won a first battle in parliament the day it opened, when their candidate was voted to be speaker.
"Kenyans will continue to demand their constitutionally protected rights to protest peacefully," he added.
A heavy police presence in the flashpoint cities and towns led to increasing clashes with demonstrators.
Police broke up a group of some 300 opposition supporters shouting ""No Raila, no peace, Kibaki must go" as they marched on Eldoret in the west, where women and children were burnt alive in a church in previous post-poll clashes.
One cardboard banner read: "Kibaki rest in peace, in a coffin, buried alive."
The protesters rapidly gathered again, forming a group of some 1,000 before police fired teargas to disperse them, an AFP correspondent said.
"We are having a problem in Eldoret and Nakuru because the youths keep on re-grouping," said Everett Wasige, a police commander in the Rift Valley, scene of many recent clashes.
Reports from the western city of Kisumu indicated ODM supporters had blocked major highways with blocks of stone and bonfires.
"At the moment, they have lit bonfires in some parts of the city but we do not want to provoke them yet," said Michael Barasa, a police officer in Nyanza province in western Kenya.
A police commander in the coastal city of Mombasa said they had fired tear gas on several hundred youths attempting to march to a rally.
In Nairobi, police guarded the central park where ODM leaders vowed to hold a rally, but many people went to work and streets in the business district remained open to traffic.
After Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27 polls despite evidence of flaws in the tallying process, Odinga had called for a million-man march to declare him "the people's president".
Previous opposition rallies were thwarted by police who used tear gas and water cannon to disperse any large gatherings.
Throughout the unrest which has plunged Kenya into its worst crisis in 25 years, Kibaki has remained immoveable, dismissing the opposition charges of fraud and long holding out against international mediation.
Tuesday's opening of a newly-elected parliament was the first time the feuding factions sat together.
In a tight vote, ODM won the election for parliament speaker, confirming the numerical edge it has on Kibaki's party in the legislature where no one party enjoys an overall majority.
Mediation efforts suffered a fresh blow Tuesday when former UN chief Kofi Annan postponed his scheduled mission to Kenya due to a "severe flu".
He had been expected in Nairobi to try and broker direct talks between Kibaki and Odinga.
The Kenyan government had initially urged him to stay home, arguing there was nothing to mediate and stressing that he had not been invited.
But in a dramatic about-face, Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula later said Annan and his team of leading African figures were welcome.
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