The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has filed an application seeking to detain some 185 protestors for 21 days who were arrested on Tuesday during Anti-government protests.
The police claim they are investigating a case of breaking into a building contrary to section 306 of the Penal Code, malicious damage to property and obstructing police officers in the execution of their duties.
In a miscellaneous application filed by Inspector George Karanja, the protestors were on July 2, 2024, between 0900 hours and 2000hours at Nairobi CBD having mounted a demonstration agitating for the rejection of the Finance Bill 2024-25 and in the process they turned chaotic thereby breaking into several business premises within the CBD.
Further, the DCI allege that the protesters assaulted a police officer of the Rapid Deployment Unit who sustained a bullet shot and that the bullet was fired by one of the protesters.
DCI also informed the Court that the protesters barricaded roads using wooden coffins and stealing from unsuspecting members of the Public.
The court heard that the 185 protesters were arrested at the scene of the crime and 14 fourteen coffins were recovered and in the process, one police motor vehicle registration was extensively damaged.
DCI informed the Court that investigations into the offences are ongoing and that the firearm used to attack police officers was yet to be recovered.
"We are praying that the suspects be detained at Capitol Hill, Kilimani, Gigiri and Muthangari police stations as we continue with investigations and ascertain the damage and value of properties destroyed," the police state in the application.
DCI alleged that the arrested protesters are a flight risk as their places of abode remain unknown.
