Defiance: Anti-abduction protesters pour into the streets amid heavy police deployment
Irate but largely peaceful protestors some carrying and waving Kenyan flags and flowers chanting freedom slogans have today poured into the streets of Nairobi making good threat agitating against rising cases of gangland style abductions targeting online government critics.
At some point, dramatic scenes played out after Busia senator Okiya Omtatah and a group of protesters used a heavy-duty metal chain link to block an arrest by police officers deployed to control the crowd along Aga Khan Walk within the Nairobi Central Business District.
Omtatah was seen carrying the Constitution of Kenya booklet which he displayed as he chanted alongside other protesters.
Police were forced to lobe teargas canisters against the demonstrators protesting against rising cases of abduction and enforced disappearance of government critics to disperse them.
Protesters gathered and sat on the street, chanting and displaying placards calling for the release of abductees.
A recent report Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) showed that at least 82 people have been kidnapped by “unidentified armed individuals” since the onset of anti-government protests in June, with 29 still missing.
Last Friday, while speaking in Homa Bay county, president William Ruto pledged that his administration would end the abduction but called upon parents to ensure their children use social media responsibly.
“Every parent should take care of their children. As a government, we will do our part and end the abductions so that the young people of Kenya can live in peace and be disciplined.” Ruto said while speaking in Homa Bay county on Friday, December 27, 2024.
Raila Odinga also called an end to the government crackdown against dissidents.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has since ordered the Inspector General of the National Police Service (NPS) Douglas Kanja and the civilian oversight body against police brutality, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to expedite investigations into the reported abductions and enforced disappearances of citizens even as public outrage mounts and planned nationwide demonstrations over the recent spate of gangland style kidnappings by security agents targeting social media government critics.
