A house of worship in Nairobi’s Kariobangi North became a battleground Sunday, leaving a community shaken and political tensions dangerously exposed. A planned thanksgiving service at the PCEA Berea Parish was violently disrupted when rival youth groups, armed with crude weapons, clashed just outside its gates, an incident the National Police Service (NPS) has since described as “planned and premeditated.”

The chaos, which left six people hospitalized, now sits at the center of a fierce political storm. At the heart of the controversy are two starkly different narratives: one of a state-sponsored attack alleged by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who was in attendance, and the other of a police intervention to quell gang violence, as detailed by the NPS. For Kariobangi residents, the violence is not just political theatre; it's a direct threat to their safety and the sanctity of their community spaces.

A Service Derailed by Violence

The service was intended to celebrate the recent victory of David Wanyoike as the Kariobangi North Ward Member of County Assembly. According to the NPS, police on duty noticed a group of rowdy youths with crude weapons attempting to force their way into the church compound, prompting a call for reinforcements. A second group reportedly arrived to confront the first, sparking a melee that spilled onto church grounds.

Eyewitnesses described a terrifying scene of goons arriving on motorbikes, hurling bottles, and attacking people. “They had knives and crude weapons. They started stoning the church and damaging vehicles around,” one witness recounted. While the police maintain they acted to restore order, videos circulating online showed scenes of panic, with teargas fumes engulfing the area and affecting congregants, including Sunday school children.

Two Sides of a Volatile Story

In the aftermath, Mr. Gachagua leveled explosive accusations, claiming the incident was a deliberate attack orchestrated to punish the local community for rejecting the ruling party's candidate in the by-election. He alleged that police and hired “goons” used live fire and lobbed teargas directly into the church, endangering women and children. “You have desecrated the Altar and defiled a Holy Place,” Gachagua asserted in a statement aimed at the administration.

The National Police Service has vehemently denied these claims. In a formal statement, NPS Spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga insisted that no teargas was deployed inside the sanctuary, a point he noted was confirmed by the church leadership. The police condemned the violence and confirmed that the Nairobi Regional Police Commander and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have been ordered to conduct a full probe to unearth the perpetrators.

• Injuries: Six individuals were confirmed injured and taken to hospital for treatment.
• Police Stance: The disturbance appeared “both planned and premeditated.”
• Gachagua's Claim: The attack was a state-sponsored punishment of voters.
• Key Dispute: Whether teargas was fired inside the church building itself.

As investigators begin their work, the incident raises troubling questions about the escalating political intolerance ahead of future elections. For the residents of Kariobangi, the immediate concern is security and the hope that their places of worship will not become the next frontier for political battles. The nation watches, waiting to see if justice will be served or if the conflicting narratives will simply entrench deeper divisions.