Four dead after Kenyan forces fire shots, teargas to disperse crowds at Odinga viewing

Four people were killed in Kenya's capital Nairobi on Thursday after security forces fired shots and teargas to disperse huge crowds at a stadium where the body of deceased opposition leader Raila Odinga was lying in state, local media reported.

Odinga, a major figure for decades in Kenyan politics who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India, where he had been receiving medical treatment.

With thousands of his supporters on the streets from early morning, chaos erupted when a huge crowd breached a gate of Nairobi's main stadium, prompting soldiers to fire in the air, a Reuters witness said.

A police source told Reuters that two people were shot dead at the stadium. KTN News and Citizen TV later said the death toll had increased to four, with scores of people injured.

After security forces fired shots, police lobbed tear gas to disperse thousands of mourners, the two broadcasters showed, leaving the stadium deserted.  

Earlier in the day, thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi's international airport, interrupting a ceremony for President William Ruto and other officials to receive Odinga's body with military honours.

Kenyan security forces fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse thousands of mourners on Thursday at a stadium where deceased opposition leader Raila Odinga's body was on view.

With Odinga's supporters taking to the streets in his honour, President William Ruto and other officials went to the airport to receive his body with military honours.

But as the coffin was being removed from the plane's cargo, mourners waving twigs and flags - some on motorbikes - overran the airside, interrupting part of the ceremony, according to a Reuters reporter and footage.

The crowd later backed away from the plane, but the chaos prompted a two-hour suspension of airport operations.

Elsewhere, some Odinga supporters climbed on the gates of parliament, where the government had scheduled a public viewing of his body. The venue for that was changed to a Nairobi sports stadium, his party said.

Though mainly known as an opposition figure, Odinga did become prime minister in 2008 and also struck a political pact with Ruto last year in a career of shifting alliances.

He commanded passionate devotion among his Luo tribe, based in western Kenya, many of whom believe he was cheated of the presidency by electoral fraud.

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