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Kenya braced for wave of protests Kenya braced for wave of protests
(9 minutes later)
Opposition activists in Kenya are set to begin three days of banned mass rallies across the country against the disputed presidential election result. Riot police are patrolling the streets of 30 cities and towns in Kenya ahead of opposition rallies against last month's disputed presidential poll.
Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement received a boost on Tuesday when it won the speaker's chair in the parliament also elected on 27 December. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said it would press ahead with the protests, despite a police ban.
Its supporters, many of them from the slums of Nairobi, hope to march on the city's politically symbolic Uhuru Park. A BBC correspondent in the capital, Nairobi, says so far there are no signs of large crowds gathering.
Police sealed off the slums to prevent previous attempts at a mass gathering. It comes a day after an ODM candidate was elected speaker of parliament - one of the highest offices of state.
The new speaker, Kenneth Marende, told the BBC that opposition's dominance of parliament would make it difficult for President Mwai Kibaki's PNU party to impose itself, and that it might be forced into forming a coalition.
See an aerial map of Nairobi and the city centre See an aerial map of Nairobi and the city centre
Unrest since the announcement of the election results has claimed more than 600 lives, driven about a quarter of a million of people from their homes and shaken relations between the country's dominant tribes. Mr Kibaki was re-elected on 27 December, but ODM leader Raila Odinga says the poll was rigged. Election observers have also complained of irregularities in the presidential vote count.
Unrest since the announcement of the results has claimed more than 600 lives, driven about a quarter of a million of people from their homes and shaken relations between the country's dominant tribes.
Roadblocks
Mr Marende said the ODM had the constitutional right to begin three days of protests against the election.
Opposition supporters, many of them from the slums of Nairobi, hope to march on the city's politically symbolic Uhuru Park.
"People are anticipating chaos and many of them will go to the rallies," one resident of Nairobi's Mathare slum told the Reuters news agency.
Slum wary of ethnic violenceKenya's dubious election
There are heavily armed police stationed around the park, but otherwise police presence remains minimal compared to Tuesday, when large parts of the city's business district was sealed off as MPs were being sworn in.
There have been reports of running battles between protesters and police in the port city of Mombasa.
A BBC correspondent at the scene said activists with placards and white ribbons staged sit-ins at the main roads leading into the city.
In the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, shutters remained closed ahead of the rallies, and in Eldoret protesters erected roadblocks in the outskirts of town.
The protests have been banned by police, who called them "inappropriate".
Attempts at outside mediation between Mr Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki have failed with the latest, a bid by Kofi Annan, postponed when the former United Nations chief fell ill.Attempts at outside mediation between Mr Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki have failed with the latest, a bid by Kofi Annan, postponed when the former United Nations chief fell ill.
At Tuesday's inauguration of the new parliament, Kenya's two bitter rivals studiously ignored each other, correspondents say.At Tuesday's inauguration of the new parliament, Kenya's two bitter rivals studiously ignored each other, correspondents say.
Defiance in the slum
When plans to hold ODM rallies in at least 28 locations were announced last week, police immediately slapped a ban on them, saying they were "inappropriate".
Nairobi's slums have seen deadly clashes since the polls
Nairobi was already under a virtual security lockdown on Tuesday for the state opening of parliament.
News that the ODM's candidate for speaker, Kenneth Marende, had been elected was greeted by cheers in Nairobi's Mathare slum, The Associated Press reports.
The slum also saw scuffles as a group of ODM supporters chased members of President Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.
"The police will shoot tomorrow, but they don't have a bullet for each of us," ODM supporter Cliff Owino told the agency, as he picked up a lump of cement and aimed it at a fleeing Kikuyu.
"These will be our bullets. This is how the war starts."
The AFP news agency reports that police entered Mathare to dismantle ODM barricades being built in preparation for the protests.
"No Raila, no peace!" protesters shouted at a police patrol in the slum, Reuters reports. They also chanted the Swahili word for tomorrow, kesho.
Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a symbolic rallying-point as it was the focus of pro-democracy protests in the 1990s.
Bitterness across the benches
Kenya's 10th parliament started in an atmosphere of rancour, anger and acrimony, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports from Nairobi.
Bums stayed firmly on seats Josphat Makori BBC News, Kenyan parliament Tempers fray in parliamentIn pictures: Angry parliament
Ringed by hundreds of paramilitary police, the building looked more like a garrison than a debating chamber, he says.
ODM MPs took their seats but when President Kibaki entered, none stood up for a man they accuse of vote-rigging and stealing the presidential election.
There were three rounds of laborious voting, interspersed with shouting and disorder.
Our correspondent notes that it was an important election as the speaker is the third most powerful political figure in Kenya behind the president and vice-president.
Mr Annan had been due to arrive on Tuesday but was said to have come down with a "severe flu" on his way to the airport in Geneva.
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