NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police on Tuesday fired tear gas and detained scores of protesters demanding an end to police brutality.
About 100 people took part in demonstrations across the capital, Nairobi. Many Kenyans have been angered by a fresh wave of alleged police abuses while enforcing coronavirus restrictions.
“We are not armed and we just wanted to take our petition very peacefully, but as you can see they are very armed, they have arrested some of us and they have injured some of us,” protester David Oluoch said.
Human rights activists say at least 22 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by officers enforcing the restrictions.
But activists say there has been no groundswell of widespread public protest in Kenya, one of Africa’s biggest economies, that’s been seen in other parts of the world over police abuse.
Kenya’s police force for two decades has been ranked as the country’s most corrupt institution. It’s also the most deadly, according to human rights groups say.
“We are not going to stand for that anymore,” activist Amelia Hopkins Philips said. “We are going to keep standing up and peacefully protesting until that message gets through.”
