Youth on Wednesday pulled down a perimeter wall surrounding Busia stadium during Azimio’s anti-government protests.
At the same time, ODM deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya who was in Busia alongside other opposition leaders accused the police of fueling violence claiming law enforcers provoked residents of Busia town who were holding peaceful demos.
Without police presence in the streets, the former Kakamega governor said the demonstrations would have ended peacefully.
The stadium wall was vandalised as two rival groups clashed.
One group was in support of the demonstrations while the other was against them.
The group opposed to the protests had earlier ejected Roots party leader George Wajackoyah, Oparanya, Busia woman Representative Catherine Omanyo and her Budalang’i counterpart Raphael Wanjala from Marachi.
The leaders had arrived at the Marachi estate to mobilise residents to join the demonstrations but when chaos broke, they were forced to escape.
Sources told the Star that Omanyo and Wanjala escaped the area using a different route when the violence started.
Wajackoyah drove off as youth pelted stones at his car.
Oparanya, later at a press conference, accused the police of provoking demonstrators who he said had no intention of destroying property.
“Our journey started in Bumala before we came to Matayos. We had received reports that police had warned that we will not access Busia town,” Oparanya said.
“But we used other routes and managed to enter the town. And as we started addressing residents, they (police) came. As you can see my vehicle was hit with a bullet as other people threw stones hitting our cars.”
Besides hosting sports events, the stadium has also been hosting key political events.
Football Kenya Federation in Busia County condemned the vandalism.
Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome had on Tuesday banned the Azimio protests.
In a statement, the IG said whereas Kenyans are allowed by law to picket and demonstrate, previous demonstrations by the opposition outfit have led to deaths and destruction of property.
He further said the Raila Odinga-led outfit had not notified the police of plans to hold protests.
