NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) 鈥 Doctors in Kenya say the bullet wounds that civilians received during opposition protests in two counties last month show that most were shot while running from police or trying to surrender, according to a report released Friday.
The report by the Kenya Medical Association, Amnesty International Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya looked at three days of protests in the western counties of Kisumu and Kisii, part of the opposition鈥檚 stronghold. It confirmed at least 11 people killed, most of them shot dead, and at least 47 others with gunshot wounds.
鈥淭here was indeed the use of excessive force by the police鈥 during the protests over the , the report said, noting that some victims were simply bystanders, including a woman watching the demonstrations from her shop. She was shot in the chest.
The findings come less than a week after Kenya鈥檚 government said it would consider to take on gang warfare and could send 1,000 Kenyan police officers. The United States, as this month鈥檚 president of the United Nations Security Council, seeks to introduce a the force. Some Haitians have .
Human rights groups have long accused Kenyan police of abuses, and those warnings spread during the recent demonstrations. Another watchdog confirmed last month.
The new report is based on visits and interviews with survivors and witnesses.
鈥淔irst responders noted that some victims鈥 families were not allowed to see or photograph bullets extracted from the bodies of their loved ones,鈥 it said. 鈥淐oncerns over police tampering with evidence were high. One elderly father used his bare hands to find the bullet lodged in his son鈥檚 open skull.鈥
A police spokeswoman did not comment on the report and its allegations. A spokesman for the interior ministry, Francis Gachuri, said they were waiting to be asked by the report's authors for a reaction.
The report calls for immediate investigations by the government-created Independent Policing Oversight Authority.
___
AP writer Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed.
