Tensions reached a boiling point across Kenya on Wednesday as anti-government protests marked by violence and loss of life escalated sharply.
In Ol Kalou, enraged protesters set the local police station ablaze after a young man was reportedly shot dead by police during a peaceful demonstration.
The victim, believed to be in his early twenties, was rushed to J.M. Kariuki Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Eyewitnesses said he was shot in the chest at close range by a police officer.
“We were with him during the peaceful protests when the officer shot him,” said James Macharia, one of the demonstrators. “We took him to the hospital, only to find out he had already died.”
In a dramatic and symbolic act of rage, protesters transported the victim’s body back to the police station, which was then torched by the crowd. No detainees were injured in the incident, according to local reports.
In Nyahururu, two individuals sustained gunshot wounds and were hospitalised. Attempts to get a statement from Nyandarua County Commissioner Jardesa Abdirisack were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, in Nairobi, demonstrators attempted to storm the Central Police Station — the site where teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang died earlier this month while in custody — but were repelled by riot police using tear gas.
Other police installations were also targeted: a police post in Embakasi was set ablaze by angry locals, while in Thika, a section of the Makongeni Police Station was vandalised and partially burned. In Kikuyu, part of the Kikuyu Law Courts, which hosts the constituency office of MP Kimani Ichung’wah, was damaged.
As unrest spreads, calls are growing louder for a national response to police violence and deeper reforms in the country’s security institutions.
