Riot police have opened fire with live rounds, health officials have said, on people protesting against the rising cost of living in Kenya, injuring at least 11 demonstrators.

Four protesters were injured in the Mathare area of Nairobi on Wednesday, according to an officer who wished to remain anonymous.

The Associated Press (AP) said its reporters saw one man shot in the shoulder and another shot in the leg in the slum district.

Alvin Sikuku, a health worker in Kangemi, another Nairobi slum, told the AP that two young men had been brought into a nursing home after being shot.

“Police are using live bullets,” he said.

One man was shot in the back and severely wounded, and the other was shot in the leg.

“We don’t yet know if they were protesting or just walking by,” Mr Sikuku said.

A hospital official in the city of Nakuru, James Waweru, said four people came in with gunshot wounds, two of them shot in the abdomen, one in the chest and another one in the leg.

A fifth person had been cut and wounded, he said.

Businesses in Nairobi remained closed as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters responding to calls for three days of demonstrations.

Protests were reported in the capital as well as western counties of Kisumu, Migori and Kisii where the opposition enjoys huge support. Schools were closed Nairobi and the country’s second-largest city, Mombasa, on the orders of the education minister.

At issue is the Finance Act, a newly-passed law that doubled VAT on petroleum products to 16%, raising the price of fuel to a new high.

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At least 15 people have been killed, at least six last week and hundreds arrested as two rounds of protests earlier this month when police fired tear gas, and in some cases live rounds, at the crowds.

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Religious leaders have been calling for dialogue between the government and the opposition and on Wednesday, Catholic bishops issued a statement urging that “no further blood should be shed” and calling on Kenyan President William Ruto to repeal the act.

Mr Ruto, who promised no protests would take place, was elected last August pledging to champion the interests of the poor, but the price of basic commodities has ballooned under his administration.

Human Rights Watch has urged political leaders to respect the right to peaceful protests, as guaranteed by the Kenyan constitution, and demanded police stop using force and live bullets to confront protesters.

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