Calm returns to Kisumu after two days of police crackdown

Police officers along Siaya-Kisumu highway which had been blocked by protestors on August 12 after presidential election results were announced. Photo: Elvis Ogina, Standard

An uneasy calm has returned to Kisumu and its environs after two days of destruction of property and heavy police clampdown on residents protesting presidential election results.

The town's Central Business District slowly limped back to life as security officials cleared boulders and burnt tyres from the roads. Tension however continued to hung over residential estates where police have been accused of using excessive force on residents. Many residents who sustained bullet wounds during the police operations were forced to nurse their injuries at home because the on-going nurses’ strike had paralysed medical services in public hospitals.