Mourners to be arraigned in court for assaulting police at Kilifi burial

Kilifi OCPD Njoroge Ngigi has ordered that all mourners who attended a burial ceremony at Mwambani village on Saturday will be taken to court for assaulting police officers.

The clash between the police and mourners started on Friday when an attempt to stop a funeral ritual commonly known as disco-matanga led to a confrontation.

Police stormed the ceremony, rounding up mourners including children and women under a recent ban of disco-matanga as they were said to cause a rise in insecurity, teenage pregnancies and rape incidents in the area.

The enraged mourners in turn pelted the police with stones and mnazi (liquor) bottles, which according to police, injured seven of their colleagues.

Those who did not manage to escape, including school-going children, were quickly rounded up and herded into a waiting police vehicle. Those who fled the swoop later returned to bury the corpse in a hurry and without ceremony.

In as much as witnesses said that most of those arrested were the elderly with no connection to Friday night’s violence, OCPD Ngigi stood his ground, saying that all those in custody will be arraigned in court.

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