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Police Block Mageuzi Meeting
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 22 July 2007 23:47
Armed police erected roadblocks and inspected all vehicles, frisking passengers entering Kisii.
Dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers also kept an eye on busy footpaths and at the Gusii stadium, venue of the controversial meeting by the reform movement.
The heavy security blocked a Mageuzi advance team from reaching the stadium and rallying wananchi for the gathering, which was to start at 9am.
Security men led by the Kisii police boss, Mr Anderson Wambugu, criss-crossed the town centre looking for Mageuzi leaders in one of the biggest police operations seen locally in recent times.
The reform team, which had entered the town earlier, included Runyenjes MP Njeru Kathangu and MPs Henry Obwocha, Zebedeo Opore and the Kisii Mageuzi co-ordinator, Mr Titus Magara.
They huddled in a local hotel discussing the possibility of shifting the meeting to a different venue.
There was tension and anxiety in the usually lively town as police dispersed wananchi gathered on street corners or near the stadium
But as opposition supporters waited in Kisii, Mageuzi torch-bearer James Orengo was being discharged from the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, where he had been admitted for surgery after being beaten by police.
The Ugenya MP, his left arm in a sling, left hospital at about 10am and vowed to attend the rally in Kisii and another one scheduled for Kisumu today.
He had undergone a two hours of surgery for injuries inflicted by police when he tried to inspect the Gusii stadium in preparation for yesterday's abortive rally
Mr Orengo said: "My colleagues and I are heading to Kisii and Kisumu to attend the rallies. No force on earth can stop us from exercising our constitutional right!"
He was accompanied by Nairobi lawyer Betty Murungi and Githunguri Councillor John Kinyua.
In Kisii, rally organisers, led by Mr Gathangu, were holed up at the Mash Park Hotel as lorry loads of policemen in riot gear patrolled the streets.
Travellers to the town were ordered out of vehicles and searched at the Daraja Moja, Daraja Mbili, Suneka and Mosocho entry points.
He seemed to be shocked by the large number of policemen brought to the town to block the rally.
A heavy afternoon downpour sealed the rally's fate as wananchi dispersed in search of shelter.
Many parents whose children attend school near the town centre kept them at home, fearing for their safety.
