The residents lit bonfires and barricaded roads as they protested against soaring insecurity/MIKE KARIUKI
The demonstration followed the killing of a businessman on Sunday morning as he went to the mosque for dawn prayers.
Anti-riot police used teargas to disperse the rowdy crowd.
Led by the chairman of the Kiamaiko slaughterhouse, Wario Agan, the angry residents claimed that over 10 people have been killed in the last two weeks and over 20 others injured during robberies by criminals.
“There are gangs here whose work is to shoot and kill innocent people. They don’t want to work at all. If you start a business, they come and rob you. Five people have died this week alone and three are still admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital,” said Agan.
They demanded that the area police chief must take action against the criminals adding that most have been occasionally arrested and later released under suspicious circumstances.
“We want Kiamaiko to have peace and enough security just like other areas in this country. There are a lot of businesses in this area that are being affected,” said Liban Jillo, who is one of the residents. “They attack people very early in the morning or late in the evening. If you don’t have money they stab you with a knife or shoot you.”
Adan Mochude is one of the victims. He said on November 9, 2011 a gang of four men attacked him while he was coming from work.
He said the thugs asked him for money and even after giving them the little he had, they went on to beat him and stabbed him twice on the stomach.
“You people are seeing us demonstrating here and you think it’s all for nothing. Look at my stomach,” he said taking off his shirt to show where he was stabbed and almost bled to death.
“I was later taken to Kenyatta (hospital) unconscious… only God saved me. I have eight children, and I don’t know how they would have survived without me.”
The residents want the arrest of suspected criminals and more investigations done to curb crime in the area.
The demonstration comes a day after 50 houses were burnt in the nearby Mathare slum in gang rivalry, leaving many residents homeless.
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