Calm returned slowly to the area. Parents grasp firmly by the hand the children they have collected from school, pulling them along as quickly as their legs will go.
The riots in Eastleigh left six people seriously wounded, according to the Kenyan Red Cross, which also counted “a large number” of people with less serious injuries.
The police will be deployed “until the situation returns to normal”, Nairobi police chief Moses Nyakwama Ombati said.
By mid-afternoon a semblance of calm had returned. Cars and minibuses again started venturing out and traders reopened their premises even as the acrid smell of teargas remained.
But some protestors still felt frustrated. On the “Kenyan” side of Juja Road youths accused the police of having sided with the Somalis.
And tensions remained.
“Take your veil off!” a group of “Kenyan” protestors shouted at a Muslim woman, before chanting at another groups of Somali women: “We’re in Kenya here!”
