Members of public yesterday caused a scene after waylaying the body of the late Jacob Juma’s requiem mass at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.
As the hearse carrying Juma left the church towards Uhuru Park, a huge crowd blocked the way and demanded that the casket be opened for them to view the body failure to which they would do it forcefully.”Lazima tuone mwili, tutaona kwa nguvu (We must see the body even if it means using force),” they chanted.
Efforts byCORD leader Raila Odinga to calm the mob fell on deaf ears as they forced the security personnel guarding the hearse to open the casket.The crowd was then granted 20 minutes to view the body after which they paved way for the procession to make its way to the grounds where Odinga addressed the multitude.
“We bring the body of Juma here because Uhuru Park has a history of Kenya’s fight for democracy. They killed him but his blood will not be spilled for free,” he declared.During the incident, fully armed anti-riot police officers were deployed as the rowdy crowd carrying twigs wailed around the park.