Interior Principal Secretary Ramond Omollo has declared the loss the government incurred during Azimio demonstrations.
In a statement to newsrooms, Omollo said the police lost more 150 vehicles and several stations to violent protesters who torched them.
“The National Police Service also lost 158 vehicles and 9 police stations, which were either burnt down or severely damaged by criminals masquerading as protesters,” said the PS.
According to Omollo, hundreds of law enforcement officers are nursing injuries and that NPS lost one officer while quelling the countrywide protests.
“The new trend of negatively profiling, harassing, and attacking security personnel saw a total of 305 law enforcement officers seriously injured and 1 fatality while executing the cardinal responsibility of protecting lives and property.”
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At the same time, the PS noted that demonstrators looted hundreds of businesses across the country.
“More than 850 shops and other business premises were also broken into and looted while 199 buildings were destroyed, and various public utilities worth billions of shillings vandalized.”
In addition, the Ministry of Interior says, “156 cases of assault and violent robberies were
reported while several non-protesting motorists and pedestrians were attacked and robbed of their belongings by the rioters who blocked 69 roads during the demonstrations.”
Omollo stated that detectives are investigating reports about civilians carrying firearms and their contribution to the injuries and fatalities recorded during the riots.
“The ugly turn of events bore out the delicate balance between the “right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities” and the imperative to prevent the abuse of this right that can jeopardize our country’s national security.
Further, the riots not only endangered lives and property, but also posed a significant challenge to the fundamental principles of democracy and social cohesion on which our nation is built.”
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The government’s revelation of the loss comes a day after the opposition suspended countrywide protests that were to take place on Wednesday.
According to Azimio, they will hold night vigils and parades in honor of victims of police brutality. Opposition chief Raila Odinga claimed police killed at least 50 protesters.
