Kenyan police fired tear gas at pupils

Kenyan police have fired tear gas at pupils of a
big school in Nairobi who were protesting about
the sale of their playground to a private
developer.
The pupils had returned to the Lang'ata school
after a two-week teachers strike to find the play
area fenced off.
The school has about 1,000 children between the
ages of three and 14 and is run by Nairobi city
council.
Several children were hurt in the police action to
disperse the protest and have been taken to
hospital.
Some of them had confronted riot police, waving
sticks at them.
At least one police officer was
injured when he
was struck by a stone thrown by a protester.
The children had returned to school to find
their play area blocked off
The demonstrators also included teachers at the
school and political activists.
It was not immediately clear how the developer
came to take possession of the land, which lies
less than five kilometres west of the city centre.
The city council has said the playground is public
land. It has not commented on the legal status of
the apparent sale.
Critics have alleged that corrupt elements were
behind a deal to turn the land over to the
developer.