Mukuru Kwa Njenga residents on Monday morning engaged in running battles with police as they protested planned evictions by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
A video seen by Citizen Digital captures armed police officers throwing tear gas canisters towards area residents in an effort to disperse the angry crowd. Businesses in the area have similarly been brought to a standstill as police officers continue to contain the situation.
The Nairobi slum is no stranger when it comes to forced evictions. In November 2021, the Nairobi Metropolitan Service carried out the exercise which left hundreds of Kenyans homeless. Residents claimed that they were not given any notice and were ambushed by City Hall bulldozers which destroyed their homes and property.
NMS claimed that they wanted to use the space to make access routes that will allow the Nairobi Expressway but area residents claim that the exercise was a land grabbing initiative facilitated by high ranking government officials.
“The government is illegally conducting mass evictions & destroying property in Mukuru kwa Njenga settlement without due notice & meaningful housing alternatives for the residents. Demilitions & forced evictions are a form of violence & a gross violation of the right to housing,” the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said on Twitter then
