Town Grinds to a Standstill as Explosive Protests Rage on [Video]

Meru Polytechnic students protesting on March 9, 2020.
Meru Polytechnic students protesting on March 9, 2020.
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Update 3.24 pm: Following the protests that have rocked Meru town after the murder of one student, the Meru National Polytechnic issued an order on the closure of the school.

The internal memo which was signed on March 9, 2020, stated that the school board had decided to close the university temporarily.

The only students who were to remain on the campus were the March 2020 KNEC series candidates and sports participants. All other students have been asked to clear out of polytechnic by 5.00 pm on Monday, March 9, 2020.


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Meru Polytechnic students protest on March 9, 2020.
Meru Polytechnic students protest on March 9, 2020.

Meru National Polytechnic students have left a trail of destruction in fiery protests. The students from the institution took their grievances to the streets in protests on the morning of Monday, March 9.

They went on a rampage after the death of one of their own last night. The student was allegedly killed by a boda-boda rider on the evening of Sunday, March 8, 2020.

The murdered student was pursing an electrical engineering course, sponsored by the National Youth Service. His lifeless body was found in a ditch beside the Makutano slum where it had been dragged.

Geoffrey Rukunja, the principal of the polytechnic provided that the students appeared to have been strangled and then hit with a blunt object on his head.

“We received a call very early in the morning and I personally went to the scene. We found him dead and dumped in a ditch. It seemed he had also been robbed because his pockets appeared to have been ransacked," stated Rukunja.

Watch the video below: 

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This sparked the protests that began at 7.30 a.m and continued unabated along the Makutano-Maua Junction. 

The students were spotted running across the streets of Meru in the direction of Kinoru as black clouds of smoke colored the sky rising from burning barricades erected in the middle of the road.

Meru residents looked on as gigantic fires rose from the roofs of various businesses that had been targetted by the protestors.

Traders who had been casualties of the riots were seen struggling to remove goods from their compromised premises in an effort to save them from the hungry flames. Kiosks had been the biggest casualties of the riots with flames seen eating through the iron sheet and wood structures. 

Firefighters armed with extinguishers tried to put out the flames but with little success and as this exercise continued, the students pushed forward with their riots. 

The students had protested again in the previous week on the same issue of boda bodas. They alleged then that the riders had adopted the practice of robbing and harassing them.    

Meru Polytechnic protests that happened on March 9, 2020.
Meru Polytechnic protests that happened on March 9, 2020.

The entire area of Makutano in Meru town is on lockdown to allow time for the riots to quell down. As the riots were gained momentum, businesses around the polytechnic stayed closed with even banks not opening their doors.

People also stayed in their homes to preserve their safety and guard themselves against the protestors. 

This is not the first instance in which a student from the polytechnic has been killed. In October 2019, the body of a 23-year old student was found in Kaithe with injuries to his forehead. 

Area residents reported that the deceased had been attacked by unknown people at night. Allan Macharii, the Meru County Commissioner provided that there was an increase in the number of such cases in the region.

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