By Monicah Mwangi, Christophe Van Der Perre and Edwin Okoth
Nairobi: When the police came on motorcycles for Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang, his wife initially thought he would be safe. The couple had just sat down for lunch at their home in Homa Bay, western Kenya, when the officers arrived on June 7.
The arresting officers shared their phone numbers with his family. And unlike dozens of Kenyan political activists who had been abducted by suspected security agents over the past year, the 31-year-old schoolteacher was being taken to a police station.
“When they came, they were so soft. They were not violent,” Nevnine Onyango said. “So that is what gave me even more confidence.”
Demonstrators react to the death in custody of Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang.Credit: AP
That night, Ojwang, whose arrest related to a defamation complaint filed by a top police official, was booked into the Central Police Station in Nairobi, 350 kilometres away, and was allowed to phone his wife.
“When we talked, he was like: ‘As much as I’m stressed, don’t worry that much. I’ll see you soon.’ I think those were his last words,” she told the BBC.
But the next morning, Ojwang was dead. Police initially said the father of one had died from injuries he inflicted on himself while in custody, saying he hit his head against the wall. But they later apologised after an autopsy found his wounds – including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage – pointed to assault as the cause of death.
Protesters scatter as police fire tear gas.Credit: AP
President William Ruto said on Wednesday that Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police”, which he said was “heartbreaking and unacceptable”. Prosecutors have approved murder charges against six people, including three police officers. All six defendants have pleaded not guilty.
But Ojwang’s death became a lightning rod for protesters nationwide, who were already upset about police violence, leading to chaos in the streets, more than a dozen deaths and claims by the government of an attempted coup.
The protests against Ojwang’s death in custody coincided with demonstrations already planned in Kenya to mark the first anniversary of an anti-government movement led by youth who call themselves Gen Z.
Those demonstrations a year ago – sparked by opposition to a proposed tax hike and fuelled, in part, by disgust at pervasive police violence – left more than 60 people dead and 20 others missing. Parliament was also stormed.
The protests against Ojwang’s death in custody coincided with demonstrations already planned in Kenya to mark the first anniversary of an anti-government movement.Credit: AP
On Wednesday, a wave of youth-led demonstrations across the country was followed by looting and arson in the capital, Nairobi, and other cities. Kenyan police used live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters.
Rights group Amnesty Kenya said 16 people had been killed – all from gunshot wounds. It was not immediately clear who had shot them, and Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the injuries.
The New York Times reported that at least 400 people were injured in Wednesday’s protests – 83 of them seriously, citing an alliance of grassroots organisations.
“Many of us are being killed with no reason,” said Don Cliff Ochieng, 24, a security guard in Nairobi who said that he was protesting because of the lack of economic opportunities and police brutality. “It is our right to demonstrate.”
Protesters were already upset about police violence.Credit: AP
On Thursday, after a night of looting and arson left buildings smouldering in central Nairobi, shop owners were cleaning up the charred wreckage.
“Look: everything they burnt. So please government, try talking to the Gen Z. Because this happened [because] of Gen Z. So the Gen Z, try to sit down and talk with the government,” Ibrahim Hamisi, whose building was burnt, said.
Shopkeeper Josephine Apondi said “thugs” had looted 2 million shillings ($23,500) worth of phones and electronics from her Nairobi shop.
Kenya’s Interior Minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, has accused protesters of attempting to enact “regime change” and said police had been forced to hold back large crowds who sought to approach parliament and State House, the president’s residence.
Business owners assess the damage to their vandalised merchandise and shops. Credit: AP
“Criminal anarchists” had “unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault and destruction upon our people”, he said.
But Boniface Mwangi, one of the prominent figures in the protest movement, told Reuters: “The branding of [the] protests as a coup is the government’s attempt to shift attention from the real issue.”
Reuters, AP, Bloomberg
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