NASA supporters defy police, mill around JKIA to welcome Raila Odinga

Raila Odinga welcome party at JKIA

Nairobi, Kenya: Opposition leader Raila Odinga has landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after a 10-day trip in the US.

Security remained tight along Mombasa Road as rowdy youths disrupted traffic on North Airport Road after police denied them entry into the airport.

A police chopper patrolled from the skies above  the airport as water cannon and obstacle-clearing anti-riot trucks doused tyre fires on Outer-ring Road.

Near Sameer Industria Park, police tear-gassed a crowd and pursued it to an open ground between Tulip House and the Standard Group head offices.
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001260472/nasa-supporters-defy-police-mill-around-jkia-to-welcome-raila-odinga

Police also had chased a crowd out Uhuru Park as Raila's motorcade drove along Outer-Ring road which police had cleared earlier on.

The crowds would re-group insisting on welcomimg Raila but police held their  ground  dispersing any grouping they came across.

In Kisumu there was excitement with crowds milling in the town to follow Riala's arrival on TV.

"I'm happy my president is back. We are happy although we are not with him in Nairobi," a trader told KTN from the streets.

Riot police were consipicuously absent from the streets of the lake-side town.

Yesterday Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, his Rauaraka counterpart TJ Kajwang and Starehe politician Steve Mbogo were arrested as Opposition leaders engaged police in a cat-and-mouse game.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga after arriving at JKIA

The leaders were apprehended on Ngong’ Road as they attempted to enter Kibra’s Kamkunji ground where NASA had scheduled a rally that had been banned by the police.

They were later released after a brief detention and are now facing a traffic offence of riding on a motorcycle without a helmet.

NASA leader Raila Odinga greets his supporter after arriving at JKIA

Even as they were held back, their colleagues beat a police dragnet that had sealed routes to Kibera from Langata Road, Southern Bypass, Ngong Road and Mbagathi Road and either walked or used motorcycles to the venue of the rally which began shortly before 5pm.

NASA has vowed to defy the police and ferry thousands of its supporters to receive Raila Odinga at JKIA.