Six shot dead, 30 injured in anti-government protests
At least six people were shot dead and 30 others injured in separate places in the anti-government protests in the country on Wednesday.
Police records showed that the deaths were reported in Nairobi, Wote, Nakuru and Kisumu amid fears the number of deaths will rise.
Over 30 people are nursing injuries after confrontations with the police..
Most of the victims were shot in informal settlements in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu and Makueni. Police said they arrested more than 300 people for participating in the protests.
In Nairobi, one was shot dead in Embakasi area and another in Mathare.
At least two others were shot in Kisumu, two in Nakuru and one in Emali.
Police said the victims were hit in confrontations that ensued in the day-long incidents and those in hospitals have multiple injuries.
Officials at the Independent Policing Oversight Authority who have been criticized for doing little in solving past such shootings said they are investigating the new incidents.
Children caught in the chaos are also nursing wounds in hospitals.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the 300 were arrested in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and other towns where police clashed with protesters.
“More than 300 people have been arrested across the country and will be charged with various crimes, including looting, malicious damage of property, arson, robbery with violence, assaulting law enforcers among other crimes,” he said in a statement.
He did not mention the shot victims in his statement.
Azimio said the protests will continue Thursday, declaring “Kenyans should not give up.”
“We will continue with our peaceful demonstrations as planned. But we will stop at 5pm today (Wednesday) and resume tomorrow (Thursday) morning,” the coalition said.
Among those arrested include; Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, his brother Peter Kamunya among others.
Njenga was arrested from his father's home in Kiserian by more than 50 officers who raided there Wednesday night and driven to undisclosed place.
After his arrest at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Owino was sprinted to Wanguru police station in Kirinyaga and detained there.
He was not booked at the Occurance Book, his wife Fridah who visited the station on Wednesday night said.
She said police chased her out of the station after she arrived there.
“Let my husband be free as he has done nothing to be arrested. He is unwell and he deserves visitations by family and lawyers,” she pleaded.
The opposition has vowed to stage three straight days of protests against President William Ruto’s government, alarming the international community which has joined calls for a political solution to the crisis.
Schools and shops were closed. Groups of mostly young men set fire and engaged in running battles with police.
The situation remained tense Thursday even as the government issued a statement late Wednesday ordering schools to re-open.
Most premises remained closed in fear of chaos.
In Kisumu, four people were shot and admitted with police gunshot wounds at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), Kisumu.
A 19-year-old Raphael Onyango was shot in the right upper thigh by police in Kondele area and is awaiting a surgical operation.
At Kachok in Nyamasaria area, Brian Mbuya, 20, was also shot by police in the chest and right lower limb and is receiving care at the facility.
41-year-old George Ooko, suffered a police bullet wound in his right thigh and is also expected to undergo surgery.
Christopher Ototo, 27, was also shot by police in Nyalenda area in his left upper limb and is receiving treatment officials said.
Five people are nursing injuries at the Nakuru Referral Hospital in Nakuru county after they were injured during the anti-government protests.
Nakuru Referral Hospital Medical Superintendent James Waweru confirmed that among the five, four sustained gunshot wounds - two were shot in the abdomen, one in the chest and another one in the leg.
Waweru added that the fifth person suffered cut wounds.
Two people sustained gunshots in Migori County where one was shot in the thigh while the other was shot in the leg.
Transport services have also been paralysed and minimal business activity has been witnessed in parts of the nation where the protests have been staged.
There are fears more people were shot and wounded and police failed to report the cases. BY THE STAR
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