At least two residential houses and several business premises have been torched in Meru by irate protesting residents.
The incident which happened at Kawiru market in Igembe Central also saw two vehicles burnt in the Wednesday 10 am incident.
The premises which include a furniture shop, a timber yard and 15 timber-thatched rooms were burnt during the protests.
According to police, the over 3,000 residents were protesting against alleged grabbing of public land by two individuals for their private use.
The two individuals were, however, not present during the incident and police are searching for them for questioning.
Efforts by the police to disperse the residents went fruitless as they outnumbered the officers from Muringene Police Station who had been deployed.
No injuries were reported during the incident.
