Kenyan police clashed with opposition protesters yesterday in a second day of demonstrations against President Mwai Kibaki?s disputed re-election in which police have already killed seven.

In opposition strongholds in the capital Nairobi and the western town of Kisumu, police fired tear gas and live bullets and struck at least two people ? including a boy of five ? in a repeat of earlier clashes with protesters from the slums.

The violence occurred on the second of three days of banned protest rallies called by opposition leader Raila Odinga?s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) coalition, which says the government stole the election.

Kenya?s rapid plunge into crisis has tarnished its democratic credentials, horrified world powers, scared off tourists and hurt one of Africa?s most promising economies. In three weeks since the December 27 vote, violence pitting police against protesters and opposition gangs against tribes seen as pro-Kibaki have killed about 620 people.

A quarter of a million people, mostly from Kibaki?s Kikuyu tribe, have been turned into refugees in the turmoil surrounding a vote foreign observers say fell short of democratic standards.

With few options left as Kibaki has entrenched his administration and negotiations brokered by African leaders have so far yielded nothing, ODM has taken its fight to the streets. ?We are doing civilian disobedience without looting,? protester Joseph Orlale, 24, said in the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu. ?We will continue demonstrating until the government gives up and returns power to the people.?

Eating sausages and disrupting lives

The government accuses Odinga?s side of rigging votes, orchestrating ethnic killings and ignoring court challenges in favour of violence. The opposition says the courts are biased and accuses the police of opening fire on peaceful protesters. ?They are just waking up at 10 o?clock, eating eggs and sausages, giving interviews and planning how to disrupt people?s lives,? government spokesman Alfred Mutua told reporters.

In Nairobi?s Mathare slum, clouds of tear gas rose above the tin-roofed shacks as police firing weapons chased protesters through the muddy maze of homes. Protesters earlier tried to block the road before police chased them off. ?Some of them have guns and were shooting at us,? an officer who declined to give his name said in Mathare, a slum were tribal gangs have clashed previously. Witnesses said a five-year-old boy was shot in the leg.

Also in Nairobi, a human rights activist chained himself to a gate outside police headquarters, but was quickly arrested.

In Kisumu, riot police fired in the air and struck at least one man as they battled youths who set up blazing roadblocks and gathered to protest.