Tuesday's protests took a sinister turn as police officers and hired thugs joined forces in plain sight. In a scene both brazen and unsettling, hired goons arrived on motorbikes, others armed with clubs and whips terrorising innocent passers - by all under the approving gaze of security forces.
So, who was behind the organized gangs?
'Service to all' is the long-time slogan of the National Police Service (NPS), which appeared to donate some of its service roles to unidentified gangs on the streets of Nairobi.
Like comrades-at-arms, police officers served side-by-side with goons armed with jembe, sticks and other crude weapons.
The gangs appeared empowered and emboldened, taking frontline positions in confronting protestors, right under the apparent patronage of law enforcement officers.
It worked like a perfect embedding of two formations serving a common goal - to stop any protests in Nairobi.
The armed arrangement comes just days after Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja hinted at some action to keep protestors off the streets of the city
“This country must be a country under the rule of law. Let them not try again—they’ll find me in town!” Sakaja stated previously.