For hours, demonstrations have rocked the Kenya-Tanzania border town of Namanga.
According to the officer, the demonstration erupted following yesterday’s (Tuesday) abduction of Kenyan businessman of whom the protesters say was driven into Tanzania.
A civil servant in Namanga, whose identity we protect because he is not authorised to speak on behalf of the government, has told Standard Digital that angry demonstrators blocked the road to Tanzania cutting out traffic to and from the two countries.
He says things got nasty when Tanzania police approached a perimeter wall separating the Kenya and Tanzanian sides after which the protesters got more agitated and the Tanzanians lobbed tear gas canisters at them.
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He says the Kenyans took advantage of the wind that was blowing towards Tanzania to throw the canisters back at the Tanzanians after which it became an exchange of the irritating gas.
When the situation threatened to get out of hand, he says, Tanzanian police fired into the air and the situation had not changed by the time this story was posted online.
According to the officer, Kenyan police have been driving around urging for calm.
Tanzanian and Kenyan authorities are yet to comment on the situation.
