Four Kenyans were murdered on Thursday in Kajiado County, in the country’s east, when police opened fire on a throng of demonstrators.
Following the brawl in the Masimba region, Mashuru police captain Charles Chepkong’a reported seven others were hurt and sent to a local hospital.
“Three people were killed on the spot, and the fourth died in the hospital,” stated the police commander.
Chepkong’a explained that the group was protesting against the area’s ongoing wildlife invasion.
According to him, an elephant murdered a teacher in the neighborhood, and villagers were enraged by the government’ lack of response.
Locals also claimed that the area’s constant wildlife invasion had resulted in property destruction.
“Elephants are wreaking havoc every day, and our children aren’t going to school because they are constantly being slaughtered by elephants, and all the schools are closed due to the elephant invasion,” a Kajiado resident explained.
Residents set fire to tires and barricaded the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway for hours, causing massive traffic congestion that spanned more than five kilometers and stopped operations.
After the gang used stones to obstruct the road while others sat there slowing operations along the busy roadway, authorities were obliged to intervene with force.
Several women from the pastoral Maasai community, joined by other locals, brandished banners and sang slogans like “we don’t want elephants” as they built a wall of stones and trees across the road.
After the demonstrators became enraged, motorists were forced to flee for their lives.
“We were killed by the police, and we have suffered as a result. Some of the women were pregnant and are now suffering as a result of the police’s deployment of tear gas. People are being slaughtered “one of the demonstrators bemoaned
Residents have often urged the Kenya Wildlife Service to find a solution to the human-animal confrontations.
Farmers complain about elephants invading their farms, destroying crops, and occasionally killing humans.
Reports of wildlife straying into human environments in the country have risen in recent years, as cities develop into old migration and hunting regions, putting increasing pressure on the animals.
A gang of hyenas killed two people in a community 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of Kenya’s capital Nairobi in December last year over the course of 24 hours.
A leopard walked inside a house in southeastern Kenya in the same month after wandering from its home in Tsavo National Park before being retrieved by rangers.
In another incident last year, a lion sparked alarm in a populated neighborhood south of Nairobi after wandering from its habitat in Nairobi National Park.
