Kenyan doctors say civilians were shot, and some killed, while running from police during protests

 

According to a report released on Friday, Kenyan doctors claim that the gunshot wounds suffered by civilians during opposition protests in two counties last month demonstrate that the majority were shot while fleeing from police or attempting to surrender.

 

The research by the Kenya Medical Association, Amnesty International Kenya, and the Kenyan Law Society examined three days of demonstrations in the opposition-stronghold counties of Kisumu and Kisii in western Kenya. It verified at least 11 fatalities, the majority of which were caused by gunfire, and at least 47 additional gunshot wounded.

 

“There was indeed the use of excessive force by the police” during the protests over the rising cost of living, the report said, noting that some victims were simply bystanders, including a woman watching the demonstrations from her shop. She was shot in the chest.

 

The information was released less than a week after the Kenyan government said that 1,000 Kenyan police officers could be sent to Haiti to help fight gang violence. As the UN Security Council's president for this month, the United States is attempting to introduce a resolution that authorizes the use of force. Skepticism has been voiced by several Haitians.

 

Human rights organizations have long accused the Kenyan police of mistreatment, and those accusations spread during the most recent protests. A second monitor verified that 35 individuals at least died last month.

 

Visits and interviews with survivors and witnesses served as the foundation for the new report.

 

“First responders noted that some victims’ families were not allowed to see or photograph bullets extracted from the bodies of their loved ones,” it said. “Concerns over police tampering with evidence were high. One elderly father used his bare hands to find the bullet lodged in his son’s open skull.”

 

A police spokeswoman did not comment on the report and its allegations. A spokesman for the interior ministry, Francis Gachuri, said they were waiting to be asked by the report’s authors for a reaction.

 

The report calls for immediate investigations by the government-created Independent Policing Oversight Authority.

 

 Source: AP