Kenyan officials call for restraint before polls

23/10/2017 19:05

        Kenyan officials are asking for restraint ahead of an election Thursday that the main opposition group led by Raila Odinga says it will boycott.
        
        Fred Matiang'i, a Cabinet secretary in charge of internal security, on Monday condemned what he called the "politics of anarchy" and said any Kenyans who choose to demonstrate should do so peacefully.
        
        "Which part of the law allows you to hurl stones at a police station?" Matiang'i said. "There is a clear difference between rioters and demonstrators."
        
        Odinga has called for protests ahead of the vote, which is a re-run of an Aug. 8 election that was nullified by the Supreme Court because of what it said were illegalities and irregularities.
        
        Some opposition supporters rioted after the earlier vote, though human rights groups accused security forces of using excessive force to clamp down on dissent. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say police killed at least 67 opposition supporters after the announcement of the August vote results, which declared President Uhuru Kenyatta to be the winner.