NAIROBI, Kenya – As demonstrators took to the streets on Monday, demanding justice for the victims of abductions, the media became a critical player in amplifying the public’s outcry.
Despite the government’s heavy-handed response, which included the use of teargas to disperse protestors, reporters remained undeterred, risking their safety to cover the unfolding events.
With each teargas blast, journalists pushed forward, capturing raw footage of the protests and exposing the undercurrent of fear and anger sweeping across the country.
Heavily armed anti-riot police officers were deployed in the streets of Nairobi to disperse the demonstrators, and journalists were not spared either.
According to videos posted on X (formerly Twitter), anti-riot police on horseback patrolled Aga Khan Walk in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD), where demonstrators gathered.
What time did the police start shooting at the protesters
Several journalists and protestors fled for their lives as police began shooting teargas at the “End Abductions” protesters.
Soon after, the demonstrators regrouped and continued protesting, accompanied by the journalists recording the proceedings.
Journalists who failed to carry preventive gear like helmets, goggles, and gas or respirator masks had difficulty managing the teargas that was lobbed at them.
However, no journalist was reported injured.
The momentum of the protest was affected after the arrest of outspoken Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah alongside several other protesters.
How Okiya Omtatah and others were arrested in Nairobi
Police officers from Nairobi’s CBD arrested Omtatah and a group of demonstrators, who were then taken to the Central Police Station.
After police officials broke into the cell where the detained protestors were being held and took one of them away, there was a brief altercation.
“You cannot pretend to be working while destroying the constitution,” they could be heard saying.
Omtatah boldly told the highly armed officers, “We were peaceful, unarmed, and not dragging anyone.”
Omtatah insisted that the detainee who had been taken away be brought back right away by the officers who had broken into his police cell.
What Okiya Omtatah instructed inmates not to do
Omtatah instructed those arrested alongside him to, “not divulge any information, including your name and national ID card, if you are taken from this cell.”
He also pledged they would not cooperate with the security officers as their arrests were against the constitution. Before the gathering started singing the national song, Omtatah warned the officers, “We are not safe here; we are safe in the streets.”
Six men were abducted from December 17 to December 25, 2024, and the protesters have been demanding their whereabouts.
Gideon Kibet, Ronny Kiplagat, Steve Kavingo Mbisi, Billy Mwangi, Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, and Kelvin Muthoni were abducted.
The protest started hours after Mulele Ingonga, the Director of Public Prosecutions, authorized investigations over ongoing abductions.
He asked police and the Independent Policing Oversignt Authority (IPOA) to keep him informed on the status of the investigations into claims of enforced disappearances and kidnappings by January 1, 2025.
