Pandemonium took over Nairobi’s bustling Jogoo Road on Tuesday morning as furious traders from Uhuru Market staged a massive demonstration, grinding traffic to a standstill.

The enraged traders, determined to fight back against looming demolitions, stormed the busy highway, chanting in defiance. “Block the road! Let them hear us!” voices rang out as they surged forward, disrupting the morning commute.

Scenes captured by wamuzinews.co.ke showed a sea of protesters, their anger boiling over. Within moments, flames erupted—burning tires and scattered debris turned Jogoo Road into an impassable war zone. The demonstration escalated near Likoni Road junction, just a stone’s throw from St. Stephen’s Anglican Church of Kenya.

Frustrated motorists had no choice but to flee the chaos, rerouting through Outering Road and Juja Road or maneuvering through estate backroads as congestion worsened.

Shockingly, as the crisis unfolded, police were nowhere to be seen. No officers had been deployed to quell the growing unrest by the time of reporting.

This is not the first time traders have fought back against evictions at Uhuru Market. In 2021, they took the battle to court and temporarily halted the demolition after securing an order from the Milimani court, barring a private developer from evicting them.

Now, with tensions reaching a boiling point once again, the question remains—will the government intervene, or will the traders’ rage spill over into further unrest?