University Students Hold Demos After Nairobi Killings

A Police horse practises a side kick in readiness for action ( left) as police on horseback disperse rioting University of Nairobi students in Nairobi un Tueday evening.The students were aggravated by last week’s killings of their colleague and two human rights activists. Harry Ndeta/Ajabu Images

by Harry Ndeta
NAIROBI, Kenya- MARCH 13- Tension was high at the University of Nairobi (UoN) late Tuesday evening as anti-riot police moved in to disperse students protesting Thursday last week’s killings of their colleague and two human rights activists.

The police had kept off the protests in its early hours but were forced to swing into action after the students refused to end the demo, became unruly and begun stoning and robbing motorists along the busy University Way and Uhuru High Way.

The students broke into Kengeles restaurant along Koinange Street where they feasted on looted beer and food. They also broke into Bookfirst Restaurant within the Nakumatt Life Style Supermarket building and looted.

A female student was arrested during the confrontation between them and the police at the Waiyaki Way and University Way roundabout shortly after the demonstration was dispersed as they kept vigil late in the night to ensure the students do not leave the university’s boundaries.

The students who were dispersed shortly before 5 pm engaged anti-riot police in running battles, completely paralyzing traffic along Waiyaki Way-Uhuru Highway stretch and University Way even as truckloads of police moved in.
Normal operations were halted in the city as students poured to the streets. Business people hurriedly closed down their premises for fear of a possible looting spree by the over 2, 000 protesting students.

Traffic along University Way, Uhuru Highway and Kenyatta Avenue and the adjacent streets was brought to a standstill as the students barricaded the roads.

Motorists were harassed and forced to use alternative routes as the students threatened to pour their wrath on anyone contradicting them. By-standers were also repulsed off by the rowdy students, who chanted anti-police slogans, accusing uniformed officers of murdering with impunity.

After converging at the Students’ Center along Mamlaka Road at about 10am, the students marched towards town center through University Way. They entered the main campus where they were joined by some of their waiting colleagues.

At one point, they tried to force their colleagues who were sitting their exams to join them before their leaders intervened.

The students marched to the Uhuru Park grounds through Uhuru Highway and Kenyatta Avenue where they were addressed by their leaders, including the Students’ Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) chairman Dan Mwangi.

They condemned the shooting of Godwin Ogato on Thursday by police and called for investigation that will net culprits and bring them to justice.

Ogato was shot dead by a police officer as university students confronted the police after the shooting dead of the Oscar Foundation Executive Director Oscar Kamau King’ara and the organization’s Programs Officer Paul Oulu by unknown gunmen along Mamlaka road.

Police say six suspects have already been arrested in connection with the killings. Police Commissioner Ali announced last week that three police officers had been arrested in line with the killings. Their guns had been confiscated and handed over to ballistic experts to determine the one that had unleashed the killer bullet, after which its handler would be arraigned in court, Ali said.

The police chief admitted that indeed police had used excessive force during the incident but denied police involvement in the murder of King’ara and his colleague. Investigations into the two murders are ongoing.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has instructed Internal Security Minister George Saitoti to ensure that local police cooperate with detectives from the United States’ Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to investigate the killings.

The incoming of the FBI personnel followed last week’s appeal by the Premier for the international community to help resolve the murders. Raila expressed lack of confidence in the local police saying they were the prime suspects in the killings.

And as the UoN students protested, their counterparts from Kenyatta University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology were reportedly restrained from accessing the city center, where the students intended to join forces. They were reportedly told to hold their protests in their areas of location as UoN students held similar protests in the city.

And in Nakuru, over 1000 Egerton University students joined their colleagues and held peaceful procession through the streets of Nakuru Town to protest Thursday’s shooting. They marched through the streets amid a heavy deployment of security personnel.

And from Uhuru Park, University of Nairobi students then went to the Kenya Polytechnic University College (KPUC), a constituent college of the UoN along Haile Selasie Avenue to seek their support.
They later marched to police headquarters along Harambee Avenue where they demanded the removal of Ali for allegedly condoning extra-judicial killings by his officers.

The management of Vigilance House had not taken any chances, ready-for-combat General Service Unit (GSU) officers had been deployed in their numbers to counter any eventualities. The gates were also under lock and key.
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