Shoe thrown at Kenya's Ruto during rally, official says it was accidental

Kenya's President William Ruto fended off a shoe thrown at him during a speech about the cost of living which has been a source of public anger, social media videos showed, while a government official said it was accidentally lobbed at the president.

Ruto has been compelled to abandon tax hikes and invite opposition members into cabinet, but discontent remains high in the East African nation.

On Sunday at the rally in Migori county in western Kenya, Ruto blocked the flying footwear with his arm and did not appear to be injured, according to three videos.

"We have said we are reducing the price of fertilizer, true or false?" he said as the shoe bounced off him, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police had arrested three people, The Star newspaper reported.

Dennis Itumbi, a senior official in the president's office, said the shoe was thrown accidentally, saying that a member of the crowd had held his shoe up as a mock camera, prompting an onlooker to push it away because it was blocking his view.

"Unfortunately, it flew forward... straight toward the president," he said in a post on Facebook.

Then U.S. President George W. Bush famously dodged a shoe thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist in 2008 in protest at the chaos following the U.S.-led invasion.