On October 21, over 2,000 Orma pastoralists clashed with police during a protest against the government's plans to introduce a fast-maturing variety of sugarcane on the banks of the Tana River in eastern Kenya. The pastoralists believe that if carried out, the project would dispossess them of their fertile lands near the river and leave them with poor-quality pastures. Headed to the District Attorney’s office in the Tana River District, the protest march was going to submit a memorandum outlining their grievances when confronted by the police. One protestor told the East African Standard that, "We do not hate sugarcane growing itself but we want to keep our grazing land."
