Huge protests in Kisii County over the death of a local businessman on Sunday, July 5 saw residents torch Rioma Police Station.
According to the protesters, the businessman was shot and killed by a police officer stationed in the area after they got into an argument over use of hand sanitizer.
Hundreds of protesters gathered and took to the streets, chanting anti-police slogans and demanding justice before they started heading towards the police station.
The protesters stormed Rioma Police Station which they first started bombarding with stones before setting it alight.
Angry residents yesterday burnt Rioma police station in Kisii County after a police officer allegedly shot and killed a local businessman over sanitizer. pic.twitter.com/fTOghzTOK6
— Lolwe Tv Kenya (@LolweTv) July 6, 2020
Officers at the station seemed to have evacuated the area as it became apparent that the protesters were baying for blood.
The protesters loudly shrieked and used anything they could get their hands on to destroy the station even as large billows of smoke started emerging.
They called for the police officer allegedly responsible for the businessman's death to be arrested and charged with murder.
The Kisii incident adds to a long list of alleged extra-judicial killings during the Covid-19 period, with heavy-handedness in enforcement of regulations on the pandemic blamed for the deaths.
For instance, protests were witnessed in Nandi County earlier in July when a local shoe shiner was allegedly shot by police for not wearing a face mask.
According to residents of Olessos, the shoe shiner refused to part with a Ksh50 bribe for not wearing a face mask, causing a heated argument between him and the police officer who shot him.
Two more Nandi residents were shot dead by police as they protested the shoe-shiner's death on the Nandi-Kapsabet highway.
At a service held on Thursday, July 2 to honour the three lives lost, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika warned Police Inspector-General Hillary Mutyambai of an uprising if the situation worsened.
"I want to tell the Police and the IG, get prepared because we shall not sit and watch you do this to our fellow Kenyans. We will set all the police stations in Kenya on fire if that is what we have to do.
"You cannot use guns because somebody asked you a question," she stated.
Leaders who spoke at the meeting including Nandi Governor Stephen Sang' also demanded government compensation for the affected families in addition to the arrest of culpable officers.
