Protests erupted in Nairobi's Umoja 2 Estate after a group of residents, mainly traders, demonstrated against alleged plans by a foreign developer to grab their land.
The aggrieved residents took to the streets on Thursday morning to protest, accusing the private developer of attempting to grab the community market land.
During the demonstrations, the protesters lit bonfires along the feeder roads which connect to Kangundo Road, as they marched holding placards and twigs.
According to the traders, the contested land belongs to the government and is currently under the custody of the Nairobi County government, and they have been using the market for years.
While protesting, the residents called on Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and the county Senator Edwin Sifuna to intervene and help secure the market land from the alleged grabber.
“We are lamenting because we have been denied our rights as residents of Umoja 2; we are trying to protect our market from a foreigner who wants to grab the market land," said one of the protesters.
"We are doing this for what is rightfully ours because this market is a community market. How dare you take the land which belongs to the community?" she added.
The locals claimed that, despite the matter still pending in court, the foreign developer had on several occasions attempted to take over the land without any proper reason.
They hence called on the court to deliver its ruling on the contested piece of land promptly to settle the matter, maintaining that they would continue demonstrating until their plights are heard.
According to one of the traders, they risk losing more than 300 stores, shops and stalls in the market should the court hand over the piece of land to the developer.
"This is our land; it belongs to the community, and in fact, the court is yet to issue a ruling on this issue; we urge the court to deliver the ruling promptly so that we can settle this stalemate," said another protester.
Despite the protests, which went on for several hours, there was no police presence, with shops in the area remaining closed, and transport was disrupted.
