NAIROBI (Reuters) -Kenyan police fired teargas at protesters in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said, after the death in custody of a blogger cast a spotlight on alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces.
Clashes also broke out in downtown Nairobi as unidentified motorcyclists beat up protesters, dispersing them, the Reuters witness said. Local broadcaster NTV showed video of the bikers shouting “No protests.”
Amnesty International’s Kenya chapter, in a post on X on Tuesday, referred to the presence of dozens of motorbikes, with two hooded passengers “whipping protesters and members of the public.”
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who the motorcyclists were.
Kenya’s police spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on the clashes.
Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old teacher and blogger, was declared dead earlier this month just two days after he was arrested, with police initially saying he had committed suicide.
Kenya’s police chief later apologised after an independent autopsy found Ojwang’s wounds pointed to assault as the cause of death. President William Ruto said Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police” which was “heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
Ojwang was arrested as part of an investigation triggered by a formal complaint by deputy police chief Eliud Lagat, according to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority watchdog.
The demonstrations over Ojwang’s death reflect wider public concerns that nothing has changed one year after more than 60 people were killed during protests initially sparked by proposed tax increases.
Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV said demonstrations also erupted in Kenya’s second-largest city Mombasa on Tuesday, and showed protesters shouting slogans and holding placards saying “Stop killing us” and “Ruto must stop killing us.”
Last week, hundreds of people demonstrated in Nairobi over the blogger’s death, with vehicles set ablaze and police firing teargas at protesters. It was not certain who had set the vehicles on fire.
Lagat, the deputy police chief, said on Monday he had stepped aside temporarily, pending the completion of an investigation into Ojwang’s death.
Two senior officers and a closed-circuit television (CCTV) technician, who had been called to dismantle the CCTV at the police station, have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
(Reporting by Edwin Waita and Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Bernadette Baum)
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