Riot police opened fire on the disturbance in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria while dispersing hundreds of youths who had attempted to stop a rally by four cabinet ministers who support the draft, they said.
A former minister was among the dozens injured in the clashes as angry gangs blocked major roads with burning barricades and attacked opponents in the latest violence to hit the campaign for a November referendum on the constitution.
“So far, we have five patients with gunshot wounds, mainly on ther legs and one of has bad chest injuries,” said Nahashon Omwata, the nursing officer at Kisumu’s Nyanza Provincial Hospital.
“The Red Cross has brought in about 20 others with serious cuts on various parts of their body,” he said. Kenya Red Cross officials said dozens of people had been injured.
Several vehicles were smashed and stores looted in the chaos that caused a massive three-hour traffic snarl on the main highway linking Kisumu, 350 kilometers (218 miles) northwest of Nairobi, to Uganda, police said.
The riot began moments after Information Minister Raphael Tuju and three colleagues arrived to rally a “yes” vote in the November 21 vote that has raised fears of wider unrest and charges of coup plots.
The plebiscite has sharply divided President Mwai Kibaki’s government.
Kisumu is a stronghold of Roads Minister Raila Odinga, who vehemently opposes the draft constitution and whose supporters had warned Tuju against holding the rally.
Attempts to disperse the “no” youth sparked bloody street battles, forcing personnel from General Service Unit -- a paramilitary police wing -- to escort the ministers to the rally, according to an AFP correspondent on the scene.
As the ministers addressed a sparse crowd in a stadium, police outside fired tear gas and battled crowds in the streets, arresting an unknown number of people, the correspondent said.
Police officials confirmed that arrests had been made but could say how many people had been detained.
“The orange team is now resorting to instilling fear in people,” Tuju said, referring to the ballot symbol for “no” in the referendum. “We shall not be cowed by this. We shall soldier on.”
