Kenyan opposition leader and former prime minister Raila Odinga has called for weekly nationwide protests against the high cost of living, in a brief address to demonstrators.
Moments before, police fired tear gas and water cannons at his car as they blocked his supporters from entering Serena Hotel in Nairobi, where he was due to give a news conference, his senior adviser Makau Mutua told CNN. Police then blocked his car from accessing the Central Business District, where protesters have clashed with police since morning, forcing the leader to relocate to another area of Nairobi.
Odinga, who lost the presidential election for a fifth time in August, called for nationwide protests to demonstrate against what he claims, without evidence, is an illegitimate government that stole the election. Kilifi county senator Stewart Madzayo and Ugunja sub-county lawmaker Opiyo Wandayi were among those arrested and held in Nairobi, according to Odinga’s senior adviser Mutua.