Thursday pictures

Spent the day on the outskirts of Kibera. We saw police shooting just above the heads of protesters, and Reuters interviewed several people who appear to have been hit by police bullets.

IAt times, it seemed that both the protesters and the police were acting out for the numerous television cameras. I wonder what sort of skirmishes would have broken out had we not been there.

Here are some pictures and sound files.

This is one of the main entrances to Kibera. A cluster of protesters gathered behind the truck to the left, and another had started to form on the road.

Here's the same road with more protesters who have set fire to a tire. These did not seem to be people who were interested in peaceful protest.

Below is a clip of one of the protesters.

 

Paramilitary police charge the protesters with tear gas guns.

Below is the sound of a separate charge when police fired their guns above the protesters' heads (there was some dispute about whether these were live rounds or not).

 

Fairly typical scene: Lots of reporters surrounding a few police. The truck pictured here was full of some hard cases. They fired just above the heads of the protesters (though, again, they may have been shooting blanks).

Police refused to allow this man to leave Kibera.

We came across this mentally disabled man when we followed police into the slum when they went looking for protesters. He was one of the few people they left alone.