Nairobi — Police in Kenya’s capital Nairobi fired teargas to disperse protesters demonstrating on Monday against what they say is a wave of unexplained abductions of government critics, witnesses said.
Dozens of Kenyans have been abducted in recent months, according to human rights groups, who blame the extrajudicial arrests on Kenya’s police and intelligence services.
Kenyan authorities have said that the government does not condone or engage in extrajudicial killings or abductions.
Some groups of young protesters marched in downtown Nairobi while others staged a sit-in and chanted slogans against the government, with others holding placards denouncing illegal detentions, according to footage shown on the NTV broadcaster.
They chanted slogans against the government, with some holding placards denouncing illegal detentions as police on horseback patrolled nearby.
Among the protesters was opposition lawmaker Okiya Omtatah, who was taking part in a sit-in, with demonstrators using thick chains to hold themselves together as riot police tried to prise them apart.Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported that Omtatah and ten other protesters had been detained during the protests
Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei and national police spokesperson Rosalia Onyango did not respond to a request for comment.
The alleged abductions followed antigovernment protests that started in June this year.
Initially aimed at overturning proposed tax hikes, the demonstrations eventually evolved into a movement that cut across Kenya’s traditional ethnic divisions, becoming the biggest threat to the incumbent President William Ruto’s government.
Reuters
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