Property of unknown value was on Tuesday, June 25, evening destroyed after the Sunbeam Mall in Nairobi CBD caught fire.
The fire incident came in the wake of massive looting by violent demonstrators that targeted key business installations in the city during the anti-Finance Bill protests.
In photos and videos seen by The Kenya Times, the five storey building was decolored after the fire incident. At the time, members of the public were seen taking advantage of the chaos witnessed in the city to loot businesses in the premises and its surrounding with Quickmart’s Mfangano branch being among the most affected.
As protesters engaged police officers along Parliament Road, some protesters broke into electronic shops, supermarkets, among other businesses.
Crowds of people were seen walking home with the lot ranging from household items, furniture and electronics, to paint a picture of the losses incurred.
Besides the Sunbeam Mall in downtown Nairobi, the Ugandan High Commission on Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya caught fire.
Videos captured from the scene showed rowdy protesters vandalizing the newly renovated glasses on the building before police officers intervened to disperse them.
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The fire was later contained, with reports indicating that the damage was primarily to the ground floor. Government installations were also targeted in the June 25 protests with installations including Nairobi County’s City Hall being among the most affected.
A section of the City Hall building that hosts the County Assembly and Governor’s office was on fire amid the chaos witnessed within the vicinity of the Parliament Buildings.
The youthful protesters also managed to breach a barricade erected along Parliament Road to finally enter Parliament precincts and went on to vandalize sections of the building.
Also Read: Finance Bill Protests: UN, African Union Issue Statements as Pressure Piles on Ruto
As a result, dozens of the protesters sustained injuries while several others were feared to have killed from the ensuing scuffle with security officers.
In response to the vandalism and losses, President William Ruto warned the orchestrators of violence that the state would deploy security officers to maintain order.
Defense Cabinet Secretary also gazetted the deployment of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) to support the National Police in restoring order.
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