In daring scenes, protesters attacked police stations during running battles that left more than 80 officers nursing injuries on Wednesday. 

The stations targeted were in Nairobi, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Makueni, Kajiado and Nakuru counties where anti-riot police had a rough time suppressing the demonstrators who destroyed about 20 police vehicles while vandalising road furniture. 

The Kikuyu Law Courts in Kiambu County, and several national and county government office also came under attack as police struggled to contain the demonstrators.

The law courts was reduced to ashes with all structures ruined by the inferno including registry, customer care desk, succession and records offices, procurement offices, accounts offices, mediation offices, children’s cells, and all the exhibits.

The perimeter wall was also brought down as well as toilets and security desk. Chief Justice Martha Koome toured the courts yesterday to assess damaged caused. She described the attack as an act of terrorism, and warned against violations of freedoms to picket and demonstrate. 

“A court is a temple of justice where aggrieved people come to seek justice. We are sad as judiciary and as a nation that even as the Constitution under article 37 allows us to picket and demonstrate, criminals have seized the opportunity to destroy property,” she said.

Wanjiku Ngoci, Law society of Kenya Kiambu representative who accompanied Koome regretted that the damaged caused was irreversible. “It will be very difficult to reconstruct files here. The police men have files but they don’t contain court proceedings. This means pending court matters will take a long to conclude, burdening litigants and advocates,” noted Wanjiku. 

The IT room in the court was also reduced to ashes; the servers were brought down, and all the cables serving the digital room.

The protesters also torched the adjacent county offices and Kikuyu Deputy County Commissioner’s offices. Unconfirmed reports indicated that several guns in the office were also destroyed by fire. 

In Ol’Kalou sub-County, Nyandarua County, the offices of Assistant County Commissioner, education depart and county government enforcement were set on fire that consumed 33 vehicles, 10 motorcycles and a tractor.

The irate demonstrators marched with a body to Ol’Kalou Police Station where they burnt the exhibit store, destroying a section of the perimeter wall. It is alleged the deceased man was a protestor who jumped into a police Land Cruiser car but slipped falling on the road sustaining serious injuries.

Skirmishes broke out at Villa Police Station in Nairobi that was invaded by about 3,000 protesters who were armed with stones and crude weapons. During the ensuing melee, a 19-year-old boy was shot dead.

The shooting angered the demonstrators who brought down the perimeter wall, burnt two civilian vehicles during the violence that left 10 officers injured.

In Mathira East, Nyeri County, demonstrators stormed the Deputy County Commissioners premises where they shattered window panes of sub-county education office, looted the Administration Police canteen before attempting to torch Karatina Law Courts.

Earlier, the protesters tried to raid the home of Mathira MP Eric Wamumbi’s home at Kamunyaka village but they were repulsed.

In Soy Sub County, Usin Gishu County, a police canter was reduced to a shell and three officers injured. The officers attached to Kamukunji Police Station had stopped to refuel the vehicle at a petrol station when they were ambushed and pelted with stones.

The officers despite getting reinforcement, were overpowered before the demonstrators torched the canter. Five police cars were damaged in Yatta, Machakos County where 15 officers were injured during the running battles.

The more that 1,000 demonstrators who had barricaded the Thika-Garissa Road, overpowered anti-riot officers who took cover at Matuu Police Station where some of the protesters followed them.

At the station, the demonstrators where they shattered the facility’s windows. They also smashed window screens of the police cars, and six others belonging to civilians.

A land Cruiser car belonging to Timau Police Station in Buuri of Meru County was damaged by protestors who had blocked the Nanyuki Meru Road. During the skirmishes, 13 police officers were injured while trying to disperse the demonstrators.

Ten officers were injured in Tharaka Nithi County where anti-riot squads fought with protestors who had paralysed business activities in Chuka town. The protestors vandalized road signs and guard rails.

In Maua township of Meru County, two police vehicles were damaged and nine officers injured. The demonstrators had barricade the Meru-Maua highway.

Angry protestors attempted to raid Emali Police Station of Makueni County following the fatal shooting of two men believed to have joined the demonstrations. The two men died while receiving treatment at Kilome hospital where they had been rushed.

While outside the police station, the protestors hauled stones at the facility leading to the injury of eight officers.

Demonstrators who had brought to halt business activities at Othaya trading centre tried to force their way into Othaya Police Station where three officers were left nursing serious injuries.

Unable to gain entrance after being blocked by anti-riot police, the protestors headed to the Nyeri South Deputy County Commissioner’s office where they set ablaze three GK vehicles belonging to Ministry of Education and the administrator.

A police patrol based in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County, was torched in running battles folloing the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old protestor whose body was ferried and abandoned outside Ongata Rongai Police Station. During the violence that stretched into the night, five GK vehicles were damaged.

In Narok County, 11 officers were injured while battling rioting mobs that had barricade the Narok-Nakuru highway and Bomet-Nairobi highway.