Uproar after police shoot dead homeless man in Mathare

Mathare residents have vowed to move to the streets in protests after police officers enforcing the daily curfew reportedly shot down a homeless man at the Bondeni area.

The man who has only been identified as Vaite was previously working as a porter at the Marikiti market.

He would spend his nights in the streets and pavements at the Mathare slums according to those who were familiar with him.

Shortly after he was shot dead, hundreds of area residents took to the streets defying the social distancing guidelines and demanding justice.

Activist Boniface Mwangi first shared the news on Twitter on Monday evening captioning a video of the protests:

“Kenya Police have shot dead a homeless man in Mathare, Bondeni area. He works as a loader in Marikiti but sleeps in the streets, residents call him Vaite. About 300 people have defied the curfew and are protesting the extrajudicial killing,” he wrote.

On Tuesday morning, Kenyans in their numbers rallied behind a hashtag “justice for Vaite” in which they called out police brutality.

In March, Kenyan police officers were on the limelight after shooting dead a 13-year-old boy in Kiamaiko, Huruma estate.

Witnesses recounted that Yassin Hussein Moyo was on the balcony of their house when a police bullet hit him in the stomach at 7.20pm.

He was rushed to Mama Lucy Hospital where he succumbed to the single gunshot the following morning.

Until his death, Moyo was a Standard Eight candidate at Ndururuno Primary School and was home after schools closed over the new coronavirus.