Nairobi News

Business people are counting losses following Wednesday’s opposition demonstrations that effected various parts of the country.

Speaking to Nairobi News, some of the business people in Nairobi said their premises remained closed while others were looted by the demonstrators.

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Mr Beavon Ochieng who is a carpenter along the busy Juja Road in Nairobi recounted how her shop was looted and vandalised.

“They made away with a number of things from here, some which they used in lighting bonfires on the road,” he said.

Another businesswoman Ms Alice Achieng said she was forced to close down her shop as the demonstrators were causing chaos right outside her shop.

Ms Achieng said she had woken up in the morning to prepare for work but the chaos forced her to close shop.

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“Things were really bad here and I was forced to close my shop and get back to the house. The demonstrations were taking place right outside where I work,” she said.

The demonstrations, which were called by Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition under the leadership of Raila Odinga, took place in various parts of the country.

Azimio has called for civil disobedience in an effort to force President William Ruto’s government to lower the cost of living in the country.

However, the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome had declared the protests illegal, saying the opposition did not make any communication that it would be holding the demonstrations.

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True to his word, police officers were by the early Wednesday morning been deployed in various parts of the country to deal with the demonstrators.

At the end of the day-long protests, seven people were reported dead after they were shot by the polices. Several others were arrested in various parts of the country.