Hilarious, Surprising & Heartwarming Highlights From Azimio Protests

A protester became a viral sensation when he was captured walking off with...

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Mar 20, 2023 - 17:10 Updated: Mar 20, 2023 - 17:14
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Hilarious, Surprising & Heartwarming Highlights From Azimio Protests
Collage of man walking off with street signpost, police officer escorting a pupil to school and Jubilee SG Jeremiah Kioni wearing a sufuria on his head. /VIRALTEAKE

Citizen TV senior reporter Seth Olale on Monday, March 20 responded to growing pressure to repost a video that went viral during the Azimio la Umoja mass protests.

In a tweet, he explained that he was unable to share on the platform a video of a woman who approached police officers naked, in a bold fashion, and climbed aboard a vehicle as a result.

"I cannot post the video of the nude woman who boldly approached police officers and climbed their vehicle. While it could be a case of mental instability, there is a more serious problem," he stated.

However, a user underneath the comments section shared the actual video footage, which Viral Tea cannot publish due to its explicit nature, showing the woman walking along the surface of a busy road naked, charging at what looked like an imaginary crowd with onlookers recording her antics.

Sila Kiplagat's viral photo of a police officer firing a teargas canister during the Azimio protests on March 20, 2023. /DAILY NATION

Olale himself was even forced to dismiss a past tweet which captioned a photo of a police officer grabbing a hold of a protester to make it look like it was him.

These were among those rare moments captured on camera during the protests, which stopped the Nairobi Metropolitan area for hours while turning Kisumu City into a battleground.

A protester became a viral sensation when he was captured walking off with the Tom Mboya street signpost, with a flurry of comments insinuating that he was intending to take the famous street in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) home to his family.

"Dear Google Maps, Kindly update us on where Tom Mboya Street, Nairobi is. Thanks," Asmali tweeted.

That was not enough. A police officer became another instant online celebrity when he was captured escorting a pupil to school, despite the fact that many learning institutions advised students to keep off the city and their premises and that this was a fully-armed anti-riot officer- in the middle of running battles.

Kenyans commended the officer's actions with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sharing his photo with the caption, "Thank you for your service officer."

In Kisumu, Odinga's backyard, a police officer was caught on camera consoling a protester who was weeping uncontrollably after his arrest.

"How did you get here and where is your home? Do not worry, we will take you home," the officer remarked as he patted the protester's head.

Jubilee Secretary-General, Jeremiah Kioni took his viral sufuria antics a notch higher when a photo captured him wearing a sufuria on his head like a hat during the Nairobi protests.

Citizen TV crew deployed to cover the mass action protests rescued a school-going pupil caught in the crossfire between police and protesters.

"We have actually ourselves taken a young school girl who was going back to school to hospital after she was hit by a teargas canister," Faizal Ahmed a reporter with the station, stated.

Police on horseback were captured patrolled the city, which was turned into almost ground zero in a matter of hours into the protests. 

Nation Media Group (NMG) photojournalist Sila Kiplagat earned praise for his stellar shot showing police firing teargas at a crowd of protestors in Nairobi, whereby there were two security officers at bay along the City Hall Way.

Meanwhile, areas such as Eastleigh got a surprise taste of teargas when Azimio leader Raila Odinga was locked out of the city centre amidst his promise to stop at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), and forced to snake through a series of residential areas ranging from Kamukunji to Mathare as efforts to access the city was foiled by the police.

In Kibra, the windscreen of a Nation Media Group (NMG) vehicle was vandalized when police engaged protesters in running battles in the morning, featuring the first in a series of teargas events that would rule most of the day.

One of the protesters had notably complained about the nature of the teargas canisters thrown at them, saying they were outdated and that police should update them to suit 2023 standards.

Vandalism was recorded countrywide from robberies in Nairobi matatus to damage of properties in Kisumu during the demonstrations. Protesters along Juja Road had forced cops to take cover behind the wall of a residential area after they were pelted with stones.

Earlier, a mechanic was rushed to the hospital for treatment after he sustained injuries from a gunshot at Toi Market while participating in the Azimio mass action in Kibera, Nairobi County.

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