Saturday, January 19, 2008

Protesters Destroy Railway Line - 1/19/2008

The Nation (Nairobi)NEWS
19 January 2008
Posted to the web 19 January 2008
By Tim Querengesser And Juma Namlola
Nairobi

It took hundreds of them pushing and pulling with their bare hands, but the rail line finally yielded.

Odongo Obinge, a 30-year-old clothing designer who lives in Kibera, said he was part of the group that did it. "We decided to remove the railway because we were told we could not go to the rally," he said on Friday morning as he sought shelter from the rain.

On Thursday, after trapping a cargo train on the rail that runs through the core of Kibera, residents looted it of supplies before being repelled by police who fired teargas at them. Hours later they defiantly returned and flipped over several hundred metres of the track.

Standing beside the twisted rail on Friday morning, many vowed to continue destroying the line, which is part of the rail line connecting the Port of Mombasa to Kampala as well as to other lines branching to several parts of Kenya.

Meanwhile, riot police in Nairobi dispersed a demonstration called by Muslims and arrested veteran politician Martin Shikuku, only to release him later.

Full story from Nationmedia

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