NAIROBI (Reuters) – Police in Kenya’s capital Nairobi fired teargas to try to disperse protesters demonstrating on Monday against what they say is a wave of unexplained abductions of government critics as well as detaining some of those taking part.
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 small groups of others staged sit-ins as clouds of teargas hung in the air. 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 them together as riot police tried to prise them apart.
Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported that Omtatah and 10 other protesters had been detained during the protests.
Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei and national police spokesperson Rosalia Onyango did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The alleged abductions followed anti-government 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.
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