Police give President Ruto deaf ear, arrest peaceful protestors

Activist Boniface Mwangi being hurled into a police vehicle by plain cloth police officers along Koinange Street during a protest in memory of lives lost during the Gen-Z demonstrations on July 25, 2024. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard] Contradiction seems to have caught the president's words a day after he ordered the release of all those arrested during the anti-government protests, mainly led by Gen Zs and Millennials. In his statement at State House on Wednesday, President William Ruto ordered the immediate release of all protestors held captive and that their charges be dropped. "I urge the Criminal Justice Agencies to take effective measures and ensure people who may have been innocently caught on the wrong side of things be released and charges dropped," he said. However, in what seems like information falling on deaf ears, the police went ahead to conduct more arrests of protestors a day after the president's directives. On Thursday, the police arrested and detained five protesters, including activist Boniface Mwangi who, among others, had gathered in town to protest against police brutality alongside other demands from the government including accountability and governance. The march within Nairobi City Centre by the youths and activists was also intended to honour the more than 50 people killed during anti-government demonstrations across the country that entered their fifth week. More intriguing was that they were met with brutal force in an altercation that saw the slain protestor, Evans Kiratu's aunt harassed and arrested. She was later released. In what has attracted the attention of the international community with the United States Secretary calling for protection of the protestors, the youths and families of the killed protestors are baffled about where to seek justice. They were harassed, teargassed, and arrested by the same authority, which they expected to provide answers to their plight at a time when they were still grieving when they tried to lay flowers along Kenyatta Avenue in honour of the people who lost their lives during the protests. Mwangi, Robert Otieno, Albert Wambugu, Pablo Chacha and Erot Franco were presented to Milimani Law courts, Nairobi, on Friday and released on cash bail of Sh20,000 each. The state had accused the five of incitement to violence and sought to have them detained for 21 days to allow for completion of investigations. "The suspects had posted allegations on various social media platforms that the government was out to kill its citizens. The said words were deemed and construed to mean that the government was carrying out extrajudicial killings," said State Prosecutor Judy Koech. Senior Principal Magistrate would later grant the suspects' prayers to have them released. While addressing the press within the court precincts, led by Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Council members, the suspects advocates expressed regret in the brutal manner in which the police have been dealing with innocent protestors. They accused the government of violating the constitution that they swore to protect and uphold, saying "we have witnessed serious violence on human rights" in the ongoing protests. "We have regrettably noticed that the government has been deliberately taking measures to violate these rights, especially the police unit, by use of brutality, despite the court order stopping these detentions," said Steven Mbugua, member of LSK Council. "These are just methods and gimmicks of intimidation," he added, calling on Kenyans not to succumb to government threats seeking to gag them from asking for accountability and governance. He said that LSK is collecting information and data on the cases of violations of human rights in order to initiate legal actions against individual police officers and officers commanding stations and regions. "We shall not cow back or bow because of this kind of pressure. Instead, we are going to push forward," he stated even as he lauded the judiciary for upholding application in court to have arrested accused "innocent" protestors released. Irked by the arbitrary arrests of their comrades with more than 60 missing and the extra-judicial killings, a section of the youths on Thursday evening, petitioned the government to issue the status of the progress of the investigations into the allegations. "We demand that the office of the President immediately confirms and share with the public the official number, names and details of comrades killed during protests," said Kasmuel Mcoure. They also demanded the State to Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) and security and investigating bodies to "collect evidence, in the next seven days of police excesses shared by Kenyans on social media." At the same time, the youthful generation is calling for more protests attributed to the recent naming of new Cabinet with the list having included former members dismissed. Under #NaneNaneMarch," the agitated young Kenyans have vowed not to relent in pushing the government to address their demands, arguing that they have been duped after President Ruto recycled some members of the former cabinet. And this time round, they are urging their colleagues from the countryside to join them in the Capital, Nairobi to send a strong message to the government in a defiance that morphed from anti-tax to calls for Ruto's resignation. "Do not tire...it is not business usual. Let us keep demanding for what is right," Njeri Mwangi said on Thursday after release of her husband Boniface Mwangi.

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Police give President Ruto deaf ear, arrest peaceful protestors

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