Hawkers and street families in Eldoret town on Thursday engaged Uasin Gishu county Askaris in running battles following a huge confrontation between them.
It is reported that the drama started when the county Askaris raided areas near the main market to evict hawkers operating in undesignated areas.The hawkers and the streets families responded too by hurling stones and other crude weapons to the officers.The situation became worse and it took the intervention of the Red Cross team to help in evacuating the injured and taking them into hospitals where others treated and discharged on the spot.At some point, the police were called to intervene and help restore normalcy in the town."The situation is not good but we have deployed police to deal with the matter as we investigate the cause," Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Abdi Hassan said.The confrontation left more than 20 people injured. There has been a standoff between the county government and the traders since a decision to evict the hawkers from Eldoret town was reached.According to the Uasin Gishu county security Advisor Paul Ruto, hawkers have been operating within the CBD and that they had refused to move to the designed area put in place by the county government."We have talked to them to use the market that the county put up for them but they have been unwilling and operating on the streets against county regulations", Ruto said.To be the first to get updates on breaking and trending news in Kenya, send your Whatsapp number to 0740949990.