Nairobi — Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Leader Raila Odinga has put the National Police Service (NPS) on the spot after a video of civilian police officers disrupting the coalition's demos in an ambulance surfaced.
In a video circulating widely on social media platforms, three civilian police officers are seen on St Mary's ambulance lobbing tear gas canisters at the opposition coalition protesters.
Minutes after they fled after the Azimio supporters started throwing stones at the vehicle in the incident that unfolded on Ngong Road.
"In my statement yesterday I mentioned this particular vehicle camouflaged as St Mary's Ambulance. They weren't holding medical equipment today were they?"Odinga posed.
On Monday, Odinga alleged that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had coordinated a plan to disrupt the Azimio demos with crude weapons for the exercise being ferried in a vehicle camouflaged as St Mary's Ambulance.
"To realize his evil and bloody plans against otherwise peaceful protesters, Mr. Gachagua has set up an armory and command centers in two different locations at a house next to the Bomas of Kenya that belongs to a former Cabinet Secretary and another on Hillcrest Drive, Nairobi, belonging to a serving Cabinet Secretary," Odinga said.
Odinga observed that the move contravenes the Respect for and protection of medical transports under the Geneva Convention as well as the Agreement on the Application of International Humanitarian Law.
"Medical transportation may in no circumstances be used to SHIELD COMBATANTS, MILITARY OBJECTIVES, or operations from attack," he said.
Azimio Protest
Odinga Monday led demonstrations in Kawangware and Kibra to push President William Ruto's administration to address the high cost of living and electoral reforms.
Odinga was accompanied by Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, and Narc Kenya Leader Martha Karua among other opposition lawmakers.
Odinga's entourage did not have a smooth ride as the police officers lobbed teargas canisters at the milling crowd who were carrying placards and twigs with others dancing to the tunes played during the protest.
The opposition leaders addressed the crowd during several stops as they made their way through the informal settlement before heading to Naivasha Road.
Odinga vowed to continue pushing for the reduction of the high cost of living.
"We are not going to relent until the cost of living is brought down and the server is opened," Odinga said.
A mosque and a church were set ablaze in Kibra on Monday night in the aftermath of anti-government protests mobilized by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
The fighting between two rival gangs escalated after a series of rallies in the slum addressed by Opposition leaders on the second day of mass demonstrations against the high cost of living and a victory Odinga claims was stolen from him in last year's election.
"What is happening is extremely wrong, religious sites must be left out of this," one local said.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said county fire engines managed to put out the fire before it could spread to residential houses.
"After a brief initial repulsion, three trucks managed to get to the scene and the fire has been contained from spreading further to households," Sakaja tweeted.
For hours, the fighting went on in Kibra, sparking widespread condemnation on social media where leaders and other Kenyans pleaded with authorities to intervene.
"Just like in Northlands, the police are ignoring calls to intervene in Kibra where outsiders wielding pangas have been mobilized to attack locals. They have set a Church ablaze in an attempt to set residents against each other. We urge our people to exercise utmost restraint," said ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna who is also the city's Senator.
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There were no immediate reports or confirmation of casualties from authorities.
Monday's demonstrations were characterized by chaos, particularly in Kisumu where at least one person was shot dead during a violent clash between police and locals who had been barred from marching to town.
In Nairobi, there was massive destruction of property during an invasion at an expansive farm owned by former President Uhuru Kenyatta's family in Northlands where animals were destroyed, trees cut down and others set ablaze.
A similar attack occurred at Odinga's East Africa Spectre Limited, a gas company that was destroyed when armed goons pelted it with stones.
Authorities have not commented on both incidents.
