Lawmakers disrupt vote on Kenyan security law

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan opposition lawmakers shouted slogans, sang and threw water in parliament on Thursday, disrupting a vote to authorise terrorism-related measures that rights activists say threaten civil liberties and free speech. The bill would allow suspects to be held without charge for 360 days, up from 90 days; compel landlords to provide information about their tenants and punish media organisations for printing material that is "likely to cause fear or alarm". Speaker Justin Muturi had already suspended the morning session after opposition legislators shouted him down. During the afternoon session, television footage showed an opposition lawmaker sprinkling water from a bottle on the deputy speaker Joyce Laboso, who was reading out the proposed changes to the existing security law. When Muturi took over the reading of the proposals, opposition legistators hurled hard cover books at him, forcing him to duck before asking orderlies to shield him. President Uhuru Kenyatta has faced mounting pressure to boost security since an attack by Somali al Shabaab insurgents in September 2013 on Nairobi's Westgate mall that left 67 people dead. He has urged lawmakers to pass the amendments. "The dignity, the integrity of parliament is at stake. The cameras of the National Assembly will bear testimony to what I am saying," Aden Duale, the majority leader from Kenyatta's Jubilee coalition, said trying to calm the legislators. Some had torn up parliamentary order papers that set the official agenda and scattered the pieces across the floor as they hugged each other and sang: "Msilale bado mapambano", Swahili for "Do not sleep, the struggle goes on". Muturi ordered parliamentary guards to escort some opposition members out of the assembly, shouting "Order!, order!, even as mapambano goes on, there will be order". It was not clear when or whether the vote on the bill would eventually take place. Nine foreign missions in Kenya, including those of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Australia, said in a statement on Wednesday they supported plans to improve security but said human rights should also be respected.