Nairobi News

Angry residents of Juja on Monday afternoon joined police officers in rounding up and ejecting protesting students from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

The students had for the better part of Monday morning blocked the busy Thika Superhighway to protest over what they termed as rising insecurity around the campus.

RUNNING BATTLES

The protest caused traffic snarl-up along the highway as the students, who had initially announced that the protests would be peaceful, turned chaotic and engaged the police in running battles.

Students who spoke to Nairobi News said that locals intervened and assisted the police in driving them out of the institution and its environs.

“Things became uglier when locals joined the police and started beating up the students,” said Amos Wafula a student.

He said that the students were demonstrating peacefully until the police were called in to deal with the situation.

DRIVEN OUT

Another student, Caleb Omari said that by 1pm no student was inside the institution’s compound.

He said that at exactly 11:30am, the police and area residents used extra force on students as they chased them out of the institution.

“The school had given us until 11am to vacate the compound and a grace period of one hour from there the police descended on anyone who was found in the compound as they beat them up. Most students have been injured,” he said.