Police officers chase away NASA supporters during anti IEBC demos in Mombasa. [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
A statement from Interior Ministry has said justified police actions against NASA supporters on Friday following the return of Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
According to the statement published by the Star, the area in and around Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is used by travellers and so police wanted to ensure operations are not affected by NASA multitudes.
Here is the statement by the Interior Ministry spokesman:
"When the National Super Alliance announced they would march a million supporters to the JKIA to welcome opposition chief Raila Odinga, they had not applied for the certificate.
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is a protected area. It is not a public place. There is also a highway leading to and from the airport, which is very busy. We have locals and foreigners coming in and out of the airport. If you have multitudes (supporters) operating on that highway it will inconvenience motorists and other road users. So the government had declared that area a no-go-zone.
The police had the duty to protect lives and property as well as maintain law and order. The role of the police is well written in the Constitution. In the process of maintaining law and order yesterday, there were skirmishes here and there. Some of the opposition supporters – I would call them goons because they were breaking the law and threatening lives – inconvenienced thousands of innocent people. The innocent were going about their normal daily duties.
Your right to exercise your right does not give you the right to infringe on the rights of others. If the people went to JKIA and did not inconvenience anybody –which is unlikely – then there would be no problem.
Again, why did the opposition head to the airport and not organize the reception at a public place, which can accommodate that high number of people? The people who went to welcome Raila do not have more rights than other airport and road users. The NASA supporters want their rights to be observed but do not care about the rights of other people in this country. It is wrong and criminal to burn cars, loot and destroy property.
The government respects the freedoms of individuals very seriously. And that is why they try to be restrained as much as possible when handling protests.
Raila’s supporters do not have more rights than other people. They should respect other Kenyans.
The role of the police is to protect property and citizens. And they will continue doing it. The government will remain very firm to protect her citizens. The reports that Raila’s car was shot at are wrong. Our role as a government is to protect the rights of all individuals, Raila’s included.
And no one would be so stupid as to shoot at Raila."