As the countrywide demonstrations organized by Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga in demand of lowering living standards in the economy and questioning the transparency of the IEBC in the previous year elections enter the second week, journalists from various media houses are encountering difficulties with police and protestors, even being attacked.
Seth Olale, a well-known Citizen Television reporter, along with some members of the Royal Media Service crew and other foreign journalists were attacked in Kibra close to the DO’s area. Hungry protestors attacked them with stones and forced them to flee for their lives; however, they destroyed the vehicle and robbed the victims who were unable to flee.
According to reports, police used tear gas to disperse the raucous crowd, which had robbed some international journalists’ cameras, wallets, and phones while leaving others injured, with protestors vowing to continue the demonstrations as they made their way to the Central Business District (CBD) to join the opposition leader.
One of the journalists, Jase Ndung’u, who was attacked while reporting the event in the Kibra region, claimed that the gang that attacked them pretended to be protesters who had built a bonfire while the other team surrounded them.
“The gang had pretended to be part of the protesters but it turned out that they were actually armed. As we were covering the ongoing demonstrations, protesters had lit bonfires and we were watching the protests unfold when we were attacked,” Said Ndung’u.
While reporting a live event in the Mathare area, NTV reporter Brian Obuya was forced to hide behind the police officers. The reporter got caught in the chaotic crowd and was forced to take refuge under police protection after the cops got into a fight with the protesters who were hurling stones at them.
