A day that was as police contain protesters nationwide

A mixture of friendliness and hostility dominated anti-Finance Bill protests in various parts of the country on Thursday as Kenyans continued to show their dissent against the impugned Bill.

A number of Kenyans defied the voice of reason and still demonstrated across the country despite President William Ruto having Wednesday declined to sign the contentious Bill into law.

The Head of State sent the document back to Parliament and asked MPs to delete all the clauses.

This basically meant the grievances that ignited the mass civil disobedience no longer exist as things stand since the unpopular taxes won’t be imposed with the Bill trashed.

But come Thursday, protesters started assembling in major urban towns including Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret which have in the previous protests witnessed massive turnout.

Kisumu also witnessed protests which were largely peaceful as demonstrators even took to having a conversation with security personnel deployed to quell any violent acts.

They were marching towards Kisumu State Lodge but were blocked by officers.

The protesters knelt on the road, raised their hands in a peaceful gesture while shouting 'We are peaceful'.

They told the officers that their entire demo for the day was peaceful and they just wanted their message passed to President William Ruto.

They later left the area and walked back towards town.

A similar scenario was replicated in Nairobi where demonstrators cheered military officers as they did patrols on the streets.

The officers were deployed to assist the police after Tuesday’s Occupy Parliament protests turned tragic and left several people dead and Parliament vandalised.

Footage seen by the Star showed KDF officers onboard their armoured vehicles passing through Tom Mboya Street when they encountered a group of protesters.

The protesters started chanting anti-Ruto slogans as they cheered the military personnel who remained unmoved and urged them to maintain peace.

A while later, anti-riot police officers dispersed the group by firing teargas into the crowd.

In the ensuing melee, a number of petty thieves were caught in the act and given a beating by protesters before being handed over to police officers.

One was caught while trying to snatch items from a female pedestrian, roughed up by protesters before being handcuffed by a plainclothes officer.

A second was caught moments later on Moi Avenue and in the ensuing scuffle with officers in an attempt to resist arrest, was left with only his inner garment as he was put inside a police truck.

A number of pedestrians going about their daily errands were also caught up in the resultant confusion and were arrested alongside protesters.

In Kisii, protesters attempted to storm the rural home of Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda.

A contingent of anti-riot police was deployed at the MP’s home to guard against attacks from agitated youth.

Some protesters have been targeting properties belonging to MPs who voted Yes for the Finance Bill.

Some legislators have had their properties looted and razed down by angry mobs. Jhanda voted to endorse the new tax proposals.

In Eldoret, youths holding rungus (batons) were spotted in the streets of the town.

There were, however, no scenes of ugly confrontation between the armed youth and the police.

Following Wednesday’s move by Parliament to approve the deployment of KDF, most towns witnessed a heavy presence of soldiers doing patrols in armoured vehicles.

Even in areas where the protests appeared to have been successful, the heavy presence of officers ensured no major incidents like the destruction of property were witnessed.

Officers were also deployed at the Industrial Area Prison to guard the correctional facility.

Failed states like Haiti where Kenya has deployed troops to help restore normalcy have previously witnessed incidents where rioters gangs broke out inmates from prisons, further exacerbating gang violence in the Caribbean country.