A convoy of Gor Mahia fans traveling to Mumias for their team’s match against Western Stima was attacked on Sunday morning in a fierce confrontation with residents a few meters from Luanda town. A number of the Gor Mahia fans traveling in a hired Star Bus from Nairobi were badly wounded in the ugly incident with some rushed to the nearby Ipali health center in Emuhaya.
The confrontation began when one Gor Mahia fan while dangling from the window of the bus accidentally dropped his phone by the roadside. The phone was picked by a boda boda rider and the fans descended on him with blows while threatening to take away his motorbike. This sparked a fierce retaliation from the residents of the area who joined to defend their colleagues.
The angry residents smashed the windows of the bus with stones and other dangerous parapahenelia inviting defensive response from Gor Mahia fans that were trapped inside the bus. The confrontation turned ugly as the residents overpowered the few Gor Mahia fans bringing business at the busy shopping center to a standstill as all shops closed down in a huff for fear of looting.
Three fans received dozens of stitches from the attacks but were later discharged though they had to seek other means of transport with their bus completely grounded.
An irritated Luanda resident only identified as Kolloh (an eye witness at the scene) blamed the violence and arrogance of the Gor Mahia Fans for the unfortunate incident saying they should not be treating everyone with a rough mentality. “Why should they come all the way from Nairobi to disrupt the peace in this area.That guy simply picked the phone that had dropped from the bus and that did not warrant their violent attack on the guy. If they are going to support football they should do that in peace but not with war. I bet they learnt their lessons today.” Said Kolloh.
Hundreds of Gor Mahia fans have traveled to Western Kenya in support of their team that will be playing Western Stima on Sunday afternoon at the Mumias Sports complex.
The writer of this article was at the scene of the incident in Luanda immediately after it happened.
