Kenyan police fire tear gas at schoolkids during protest

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan police fired tear gas at children protesting against plans to demolish a playground on a disputed patch of land in the capital, Nairobi, said Kenneth Okoth, the local member of parliament.

At least 10 students from Langata Road Primary School were taken to the hospital with injuries, including for tear-gas exposure to their eyes, according to Okoth. The school has owned the plot since 1972, he said.

Organizers of the demonstration circulated a statement saying the playground had been acquired by a “group of professional land grabbers” representing a senior politician in the governing Jubilee coalition. The area was fenced off over the Christmas holiday, according to the statement. The students, as well as adult protesters, pulled down part of the wall during the demonstration Monday, Okoth said.

Presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu didn’t answer a call to his mobile phone when contacted for comment.

The incident sparked an outcry over Twitter using the hashtag “OccupyPlayGround.”

“It is difficult to believe that police can actually deploy against primary schoolchildren and lob tear gas at them to defend a land grabber,” opposition leader Raila Odinga said in an e-mailed statement.

Kenya abolished school fees for primary education in 2003, boosting the net enrollment rate to 86 percent and putting the country on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of basic education for all children this year, according to the United Nations.