Kenyan police fired teargas at protesters demonstrating against a planned quarantine facility for US servicemen and citizens exposed to the Ebola virus.
At least one person was said to have been killed in the violence, according to Mwangi Wangai, a human rights activist who helped mobilize the protests on Tuesday in Nanyuki, a town about 195 km (121 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.
“There was shooting going on,” Wangai said. Police couldn’t immediately confirm if there had been any deaths when reached by phone.
Police arrested several people, while businesses and schools remained closed as demonstrators marched carrying caskets and crosses emblazoned with the word ‘Ebola’ in red.
One person was killed during similar protests on June 1 and several people were injured.
The US government is setting up a 50-bed isolation center for its nationals at a military air base in the outskirts of the town.
Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak, has recorded at least 550 cases and more than 100 deaths. Neighboring Uganda has reported 19 infections, mostly of Congolese people who crossed the border.
Kenya hasn’t recorded any cases and says it’s received $13 million from the US government to help establish 23 containment facilities, including the one at Laikipia Air Base.
While a Kenyan court has temporarily halted the proposed center at Laikipia, Kenya’s Health Secretary Aden Duale told lawmakers last week that the government would press ahead with its preparation.
The Next Africa newsletter runs every weekday. Sign up here for the newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa podcast on Apple , Spotify or anywhere you listen .