Demonstrators mobilise in Kisumu/CFM
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 13 – Demonstrators have started gathering in Kisumu around Kondele area where they have blocked roads amid heavy security presence.
They have already set up bonfires on the main roads, although they have not started marching to the city centre where heavily armed police officers are patrolling.
The same situation was witnessed in Mombasa where opposition Members of Parliament led their supporters in marching down the town streets.
Nyanza Regional Commissioner Wilson Njega stated that police will deal firmly with demonstrators who will defy the ban to hold protests in the city centre which has been the theatre of running battles in the past.
“When you start a demonstration on an illegality, how then do you expect to proceed? And once you are allowed to march into the CBD and go to the IEBC offices, there is a lot of looting and destruction of property. This is very clear manifestation of criminality. Will you allow public property to be destroyed?” he stated.
In Mombasa, NASA supporters who had gathered at Uhuru Gardens were dispersed by police before re-grouping.
In Nairobi, the demonstrators are said to be grouping in Kibera, Mathare and Kawangware areas, amid tight security, with Uhuru Park already sealed by anti-riot police.
In Machakos, there are no signs of demonstrations so far.
Police have been mobilised in major cities across the country to keep in check those who plan to protest in solidarity with the National Super Alliance after their leaders vowed to defy an order barring them from holding demonstrations in the main city centres.
Towns affected include Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu where Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi warned of tough action on protesters making their way to the Central Business District, with plans now underway to arrest the organiser of earlier protests: Norman Magaya of NASA.
But NASA Co-principal Moses Wetangula stated that the announcement by Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi is not backed by law.
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