The hapless young man who was brutally beaten by police during CORD’s demonstration yesterday has died, as authorities announced internal investigations on the officers who beat the life out of him.
The man, who has been identified as Bernard Ngatia succumbed to his injuries early this morning. Ngatia hails from Nduberi-Kiambu County, near Nairobi. It’s not clear whether he was a CORD supporter or just a curious onlooker caught up in the mayhem, but sources say he was among a group of youths ferried from Kiambu by Jubilee politicians to counter the CORD demos.
The images of his beating, which was reminiscent of the violence during Daniel Moi’s dictatorial years, have ticked off a storm on social media and captured international attention. The photos and video show the anti-riot police savagely beating the man after breaking a peaceful demonstration organised by CORD to push out officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
One disturbing photo shows a man in a green polo shirt lying on the ground visibly unconscious, his head resting on the edge of a pavement. Three anti-riot police officers rain kicks and batons in turn – and they seemed to be enjoying it. But the most notable was when one of the anti-riot police officers raises his boot high in the air and delivers a fatal blow on the head.
Photos capture him fleeing from police, moments before he was subdued, but he was later hit with a baton on the head and fell down.
Raila’s car also hit
The riots were led by CORD co-principal, Raila Odinga who feels that the current electoral body cannot be trusted to run a fair election come 2017. His car was also hit by a rubber bullet though police have denied shooting at it, saying it was possibly a stray stone hurled by the protestors.
Over the last three weeks and going forward CORD has organised weekly protests every Monday at the IEBC officers located on Anniversary Towers in the city centre.
IEBC has maintained that it has conducted itself professionally, and that disbanding the commission simply because politicians felt aggrieved was setting a wrong precedent. Politicians aligned to the President’s side have asked CORD to present a petition to Parliament on the removal of IEBC, but the opposition is reluctant given its minority numbers.
Leave a comment