One person was shot in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Tuesday during protests sparked by the death of a blogger in police custody that has inflamed accusations of extrajudicial killings by security forces.
A Reuters journalist saw the man's lying on the ground apparently unconscious with a bleeding head wound. Reports later emerged that he was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Kenya's police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said he was unaware of the casualty.
The death of 31-year-old blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang on June 8 came a year after more than 60 people were killed during protests initially sparked by proposed tax increases.
Police apology
Police initially said he had committed suicide, but Kenya's police chief later apologised after an independent autopsy found that Ojwang's wounds pointed to assault as the cause of death.
As demonstrators took to the streets of Nairobi on Tuesday, police fired tear gas. Clashes also broke out when unidentified motorcyclists beat up protesters, dispersing them, the Reuters journalist said.
Local broadcaster NTV showed video of the bikers shouting "No protests."
Amnesty International's Kenya chapter, in a post on X, referred to the presence of dozens of motorbikes with two hooded passengers whipping protesters and members of the public.
Reuters could not immediately identify the bikers.
‘Unacceptable’
President William Ruto said last week that Ojwang had died "at the hands of the police" which he called "heartbreaking and unacceptable."
Ojwang was arrested as part of an investigation triggered by a formal complaint by deputy police chief Eliud Lagat, according to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority watchdog.
Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV said demonstrations also erupted in Kenya's second largest city Mombasa on Tuesday, and showed protesters shouting slogans and holding placards saying "Stop killing us" and "Ruto must stop killing us."
Last week, hundreds of people demonstrated in Nairobi over the blogger's death, with vehicles set ablaze and police firing tear gas.
Lagat, the deputy police chief, said on Monday he had stepped aside temporarily, pending the completion of an investigation into Ojwang's death.
Two senior officers and a closed-circuit television (CCTV) technician, who had been called to dismantle the CCTV at the police station, have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
