A police station in Kinangop,
Nyandarua County was on Thursday evening torched by a mob that claimed police
had earlier on shot and killed a man during a violent protest in the area.
Police said the locals
torched Ndunyu Njeru Police Station in Nyandarua after a man was fatally shot during
a protest against cattle theft.
The protesters had turned
violent and attacked police trying to control the protest, prompting a shooting
that went bad.
The locals reacted and
marched to the local police station, setting it on fire.
This has increased to more than
10 police facilities so far attacked and destroyed since the June 25 protests.
Interior Cabinet Secretary
Kipchumba Murkomen had on Thursday advised police to shoot anyone who tries to
attack a police station.
Police say more 500 people have been arrested in separate operations since the protests took place. Police said at least five guns were stolen during the chaos at the Dagoretti police post in Kiambu County.
Among the affected were Dagoretti police post, Juja police station, Villa post police station, Molo police station, Ongata Rongai police station, Matuu police station, Mai Mahiu police station and Ol Kalou police station.
The most dramatic incident happened when a protest turned chaotic after a group of goons barricaded the Southern Bypass and the Old Kikuyu Road with stones and lit bonfires with old vehicle tires. Police claimed that the group was hired from Limuru and Kiambu Counties and ferried to Kikuyu using three lorries.
The running battles between the goons and the police continued for 30 minutes when the reinforcement team drawn from various stations within Kiambu and Murang'a Counties arrived to help the situation.
The Kikuyu Law Courts, County Government offices, Dagoretti Police Post and DCC's office had already been torched. Further, the police foiled an attempt by the rioters to seize five firearms from the Sub-County APS armoury.
As a result of the melee, one person was killed and five officers sustained injuries.
The rioters took the body of the fatally injured to an unknown place and later approached the Kikuyu Police Station area at around 6 pm through the link road and abandoned the body at the Kikuyu Police Station main gate.
According to the police, the confrontation continued until 10:00 pm when the rioters advanced towards the Kikuyu Affordable Housing units and began vandalising the property.
Moments later, the officers responded and managed to arrest four suspects.
In total, the police arrested 25 rioters and confirmed that investigations are ongoing to nab the other perpetrators. Murkomen said what unfolded in parts of the country was terrorism disguised as dissent.
He also promised action on the planners and executors.
“There was no peaceful demonstration, it was riots, chaos and anarchy,” he said.
“This was not just violence. It was an orchestrated campaign of terror, an assault on our people, our Constitution, our institutions, our values, and the very soul of this Republic.”
He added that what was billed as a peaceful protest was, in truth, a calculated disguise, a coordinated descent into chaos masked as civic expression.
