Thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi’s international airport on Thursday, interrupting a ceremony for the body of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, with crowds also flooding nearby roads and trying to breach parliament.
Odinga, a major figure for decades in Kenyan politics who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India where he had been receiving medical treatment.
With Odinga’s supporters taking to the streets in his honor, President William Ruto and other officials went to the airport to receive his body with military honors.
But as the coffin was being removed from the plane’s cargo, mourners waving twigs and flags – some on motorbikes – overran the airside, interrupting part of the ceremony, according to a Reuters witness and video footage.
The crowd later backed away from the plane, but the chaos prompted a two-hour suspension of airport operations.
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