Anti-government protesters set fire to car tires in Kenya's capital Nairobi and the city of Kisumu in the west of the country on Thursday, marking the third round of demonstrations organized by opponents of President William Ruto.
Television footage from Kenyan networks showed protesters throwing stones at riot police in the impoverished Mathare area of Nairobi. Police were heavily deployed after a protest led by opposition leader Raila Odinga escalated on Monday into what appeared to be reciprocal attacks between the two sides.
A church and a mosque were set ablaze on Monday evening in the poor Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, and properties belonging to the Odinga family and former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who supported Odinga in the elections, were vandalized.
Religious leaders and human rights groups have called for calm in the wake of these events, warning of a potential eruption of ethnic conflict similar to that which claimed the lives of over a thousand people following the disputed 2007 elections.
Kithuri Kindiki, a senior official in the Ministry of Interior, expressed similar concerns in a statement on Wednesday, describing a "premeditated fire driven by ethnic motives" in the ethnically diverse Kibera area, which experienced some of the worst violence in 2007.
He pledged to take a tough stance against further violent protests, stating, "We must stop the deterioration of the situation."
The government announced that two civilians had been killed and over 130 others injured, including 51 police officers, during the protests since last week.
Odinga, who has run for the presidency five times, stated that the demonstrations were protesting against the rising cost of living and allegations of fraud in last year’s elections.
Odinga challenged Ruto's victory, but the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the result.
