Nairobi - Kenyan police fired teargas and

shots in the air on Monday as hundreds of demonstrators marched

through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal

changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul

an election.

Reuters television footage showed a sport utility vehicle

ploughing into some of the protesters, severely injuring three,

but it was not immediately clear who was responsible and the

police made no immediate comment on the incident.

Kenya is due on October 26 to repeat a presidential election

after the Supreme Court nullified an August 8 vote due to

procedural irregularities. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the

August election, will face opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Uncertainty over the coming election has created turmoil in

the East African nation, which is a regional trade hub and

staunch Western ally.

As the demonstrators marched towards the election board in

Nairobi, a Reuters journalist saw men in plain clothes near

security forces fire shots in the air. Police on horseback set

up blockades to prevent protesters from accessing some roads.

Police also used teargas in the western city of Kisumu,

Odinga's stronghold, to disperse protesters, though another

demonstration in the coastal city of Mombasa passed peacefully.

Odinga's opposition alliance is threatening to boycott the

October vote unless the electoral board changes some personnel -

a stance he declined on Monday to clarify, in comments that

suggested he was keeping his options open for now.

"This is a democratic society we live in. If I choose not to

participate in the pre-rigged election process, it is my

democratic right. No court can order me to do so," Odinga said

in comments broadcast on Kenyan TV stations, without elaborating

further.

"DECLARING WAR"

The protesters want to warn ruling party lawmakers not to

pass an amendment to the election law that would limit the

circumstances in which the Supreme Court could void an election

on procedural grounds, opposition lawmaker James Orengo said.

"If parliament passes the law tomorrow, it will be like

declaring war on the Kenyan people," he said.

Justin Muturi, speaker of the National Assembly, said the

amendment could be debated when parliament reconvenes on Tuesday

if lawmakers were keen to push it forward.

He said the key part of the proposed law stipulates that if

a candidate boycotts an election whose date has already been

set, the remaining candidate would win the contest without

formal polls being held.

The government is keen to avoid a constitutional crisis if

Odinga pulls out at the last minute, frustrating the court's

order to hold elections within 60 days, Muturi said.

"We are trying to prevent a crisis should there be no

elections," he told Reuters by phone.

The government-backed Kenya National Commission on Human

Rights said on Monday in a report that at least 37 people had

been killed in a police crackdown on protests that immediately

followed the August vote - the highest death toll given so far.

The report attributed some deaths to "police using live

bullets and a few from police bludgeoning using clubs". It named

a 6-month-old baby girl, a 7-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old

girl as being among the victims.

Reuters