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The Senator spoke on Thursday during an interview with Citizen TV.
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He further explained that the primary role of the state is to protect life and property.
Image: FILE
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has come to the defense of the police after the chaos that happened during the anti-government protests that took place on Wednesday.
He said police were forced to act as they could not watch as protesters destroyed properties and turned the country into a mayhem zone.
The Senator spoke on Thursday during an interview with Citizen TV.
"The police are not provoking demonstrators. Goons destroyed the Nairobi Expressway and police could not just sit and allow the mayhem to go on," Khalwale said.
He further explained that the primary role of the state is to protect life and property.
Adding that the state does so through the security organs like the police.
"Under the constitution of Kenya, it is only the state that enjoys the monopoly of force," Khalwale said.
During Wednesday's protests, some protesters vandalised parts of the expressway that goes through Mlolongo.
Khalwale said there was no way the police could just watch as such vandalism of public property went on.
"It was the criminal element seen in some protestors that attracted the force of the police.
"If the state does not intervene through security organs, will we not be surrendering the state to criminals ? " the Senator posed.
According to Khalwale, the greatest protesters in the world are only two- Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
He said the two succeeded in their protests because they did so in a peaceful manner.
"Even the constitution is clear. Kenyans have a right to picket, but on condition that they must be unarmed," he said.