Man shot as police disperse opposition supporters at Gilgil rally
The rally ended abruptly when police officers fired tear gas canisters and confronted the crowd. In the chaos, the man was shot and left seated on the ground, visibly wounded, while others ran for safety.
Chaos erupted on Saturday in Gilgil, Nakuru County, after police disrupted a rally organised by leaders allied to the Democracy for the Citizens’ Party (DCP) by firing teargas and forcefully dispersing the crowd.
A video seen online shows a man, believed to be a bodaboda rider, seated on the ground after allegedly being shot in the leg, as residents fled the scene.
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The rally, led by Members of Parliament and other leaders allied to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, had drawn residents who had gathered to listen to the opposition team. But police moved in and lobbed teargas canisters to disperse the crowd.
The team, led by Nyandarua Senator John Methu, has been moving across towns in the Mt Kenya region to rally support for a united opposition front in Gachagua’s absence.
The rally ended abruptly when police officers fired tear gas canisters and confronted the crowd. In the chaos, the man was shot and left seated on the ground, visibly wounded, while others ran for safety.
Gachagua, who is currently in the United States, holding town hall meetings with Kenyan diaspora communities, issued a scathing statement following the incident. He accused President William Ruto and Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen of orchestrating the disruption through what he called state-sponsored intimidation.
“Once again, our public participation meeting was violently disrupted on orders from Ruto and his protégé Murkomen,” Gachagua wrote on X.
He decried what he described as a growing climate of fear and suppression, warning that the country is sliding toward dictatorship.
Despite the violent turn of events, Gachagua praised his team’s resilience and urged supporters not to relent.
“It is always darkest before dawn. We will rewrite the wrongs and restore sanity to governance. Kenyans are ticking the box,” he added.
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