former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, an influential politician who died a day earlier in India. The mourners filled a 60,000-capacity football stadium in the capital after escorting the body on foot from the country's main airport, 18 miles (29 kilometres) away. Tensions rose when they breached the presidential pavilion, prompting police officers to fire tear gas. There was a stampede at the gates of the stadium as the mourners ran outside, and leaders present remained locked in a room. An unknown number of people were injured in the stampede. Odinga's body arrived from India Thursday morning in a chartered airplane and was given a water cannon salute at the airport. A planned ceremonial reception of the body by close family and top leaders at the airport was disrupted when mourners demanded access to view the body. People eager to view the body walked alongside the military vehicle carrying Odinga from the runway while waving twigs.

"We are in mourning as a country. We loved Baba so much, he was the defender of the people," said Beatrice Adala, one of many who went to the airport. Like many, she called Odinga "Baba", a Kiswahili honorific usually reserved for a beloved father figure. The politician, who was lauded for his fight for democracy, died Wednesday at 80 years old after he collapsed during a morning walk. Efforts to resuscitate him at a hospital in India's Kerala state failed. Odinga will be given a state funeral Sunday at his rural home of Bondo, in the western region of the country. According to his family, he had requested to be buried quickly, ideally within 72 hours, which is unusual for popular leaders in Kenya. (Jamaica Gleaner)