Business came to a standstill in Maralal town in Samburu County yesterday evening as residents engaged police officers in running battles.
The Friday, August 3, incident was sparked by the arrest of a local who had not put on his mask.
In his attempt to resist the arrest, an argument ensued, attracting fed-up members of the public, who joined the fray in solidarity.
"Locals engaged police in running battles from one side of the town to the other, demanding fairness and leniency from the police," said a resident.
The resident expressed their displeasure rather robustly, over what one of them termed as "harassment over trivialities by police".
Residents of Maralal town have been complaining about harassment by police and wrongful detention, especially in regard to breach of covid-19 protocols.
During the riots, the residents complained, saying that police officers have turned the implementation of covid-19 guidelines into an extortion racket.
“These officers demand as high as Ksh5000 just because you do not have a mask on,” one of the residents complained.
The residents accused police of being petty and harassing the voiceless like harders for lack of masks.
“Pastoralists have been detained just because they were herding with no masks and now they have to pay a lot of money for their freedom,” one of the protesters lamented.
The residents now want the police to release the people they have detained for not wearing masks and stop extorting locals.
Samburu Central Police Commander, Alex Rotich, however, faulted the residents and said engaging the police in running battles is unacceptable.
He also added that all they do is try to ensure that the locals observe covid-19 protocol because most of them are ignorant and arrogant.
“We will continue to enforce Covid-19 containment measures and no one will be spared if found flouting laid down guidelines,” the law enforcer remarked.
