Nursery students teargassed by police in anti-IEBC demos
Police have been criticised for excessive use of force in the recent past.
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Pupils at St Peter’s Awich Kodingo ECDE in Nyalenda slums Kisumu County were whizzed for safety by their teachers and passers-by after a cloud of the toxic gas was thrown in their classroom and the compound.
One teacher on Tuesday told the press that the mid-morning corrosive assault on their eyes and nostrils came as they learned how to read and write.
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In a two-minute video widely circulated on social media, pupils are seen emerging from a white cloud of smoke, others carried by teachers, who kept wiping their eyes.
The school founder, Beatrice Schnelli-Okello told journalists that the police “unlawfully” entered into the school premises and hurled teargas at the minors. She said that three children sustained injuries as they stormed out of their classes.
“They attacked us without any due regard for the children aged between 3-7 years and staffers. It took the intervention of teachers and good Samaritans to evacuate and aid the little ones to safety,” she said as quoted by the Nation.
She added: “It is unfathomable to involve innocent children, within school premises, and further risk their lives. The children are traumatised and some have suffered injuries.”
The school head teacher Eunice Odhiambo said that the assault disrupted normal running of the institution, amid tension caused by police who demanded that the children be released.
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“The anti-riot police were outside the gate demanding the children to be released from classes. They suddenly lobbed tear gas into the school compound that exploded right at the entrance of one of the classes, chocking pupils,” she said.
She said that six armed police officers forced their way into the institution and lobbed teargas
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