KENYAN STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE

Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have used teargas to disperse a
demonstration by students who are protesting over the death of another
student shot by police on Thursday.

Students at Nairobi University were confined to their halls of residence
overnight after they started throwing stones in protest, but they took to
the streets again on Friday morning.

The campus was sealed off and Nairobi's central thoroughfare, Uhuru Highway,
was reportedly closed to traffic for a while on Friday morning.

The situation is now reported to be calm.

"Go home, Go home," demonstrators chanted as they swarmed over public roads
near university dormitories.

"We are angry, we want revenge," others shouted at police.

Drugs Raid

The riots involving 300 to 400 university students are seen as the worst
student confrontation with police for at least a year.

The students were angry over the death of their colleague, David Sila
Kimuyu, who police said was killed during a drugs raid on the campus.

Police say the trouble started when they found a group of university
students smoking cannabis in a wooded area.

Officers said they opened fire on one of the students after he lunged at
them with a knife.

But some of the students disputed the police version.

"The police surely planted evidence that there was bhang [cannabis]," said
one angry student.

"Our colleague was shot but there was no issue of bhang."

Kenyan students and police have clashed several times in recent years.

But the clashes rarely last more than an hour.

Students often gather at a busy city-centre intersection and throw stones at
passing cars.

Kenyan students are known to protest against ordinary failings such as power
cuts or food shortages.