Two people, who were among demonstrators who stormed Ramula Police Post in Gem constituency, were shot dead by the police after defying orders to stop.

According to sources, the two were part of a group from Mwibona area in the neighbouring Vihiga County who were demonstrating against the presence of a gold mining firm that has been licensed to extract gold in the area and the neighbouring Ramula in Gem Yala Sub-County in Siaya.

The demonstrators had earlier brought business on the Ramula-Luanda Road to a standstill after they blocked it with boulders and other objects. As they moved towards Ramula market, the demonstrators briefly stopped opposite the police post as the policemen looked on from a distance.

Feeling that the police was ignoring them, the demonstrators dashed into the police post compound and started hurling stones, breaking window-panes. In the melee, a tractor that had been packed at the compound was torched.

Plea by the police for the demonstrators to leave went unheeded, with the mob pelting the security officers with stones and other crude missiles. Feeling that the matter could get out of hand, the policemen quickly armed themselves and shot in the air to disperse them but in vain.

In the process, two youths were shot dead, forcing the rest to disperse the demonstrators.

Siaya County Commissioner Norbert Komora confirmed the incident and blamed unnamed people from the neighbouring Vihiga County of inciting the demonstrators. Komora said security men will act firm to ensure law and order prevailed, noting that this was not the first time that demonstrators had attacked Ramula police post.

“Last year, they did the same at the police did not act” said the county commissioner, adding that the same cannot be allowed to go on.

Gem Member of Parliament Elisha Odhiambo condemned the incident and urged people from the neighbouring Vihiga County not to drag Ramula into their issues.

“If they have a problem with the investor, there are channels to be followed, not resorting to lawlessness” Odhiambo said.

Odhiambo called on the relevant agencies to consult the public as it seeks to sort out the issues of the investor licensed by the government to mine gold in the area.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Philip Onyango.