(30 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya – 30 December 2024
1. Protesters seated in an alley in Nairobi’s Central Business District holding protest banners and chanting
2. Riot police approaching protesters
3. Various of protesters
4. Various of teargas canisters thrown at protesters who continue sitting and holding on to a chain link
5. Protesters chanting UPSOUND (English) "Kenya united, shall never be defeated."
6. Police officer on horse trying to disperse seated protesters
7. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Serah Njeri, mother of abducted blogger:
"I am here so that my child can be released. This is my child, I ask the government to please say where he is. I would rather you kill me, here I am. Many other people are here too with me, release our children please."
8. Various of protest
9. Various of Senator of Busia, Okiya Omtatah, seated and chanting with protesters
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Okiya Omtatah, Senator of Busia:
"The government of (Kenyan) President (William) Ruto stop abducting people. These actions by the government which is targeting its critics, so this regime has become rogue and we are here to demand, to call the regime back to order. To demand that the regime follows the rule of law or it vacates office."
11. Various of protesters singing Kenyan national anthem
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Orpah Thabiti, protester:
"We exist in a time where we have to live in fear. So I am so proud of everyone who is here, because we have all come out to say this is our country and it is not possible for us to live the way we have been living under this regime in this country."
13. Various of protest
14. Protester offering riot police flowers
STORYLINE:
An opposition politician and several other protesters were arrested in Kenya during street demonstrations to call for an end to recent abductions that have targeted young government critics.
Senator Okiya Omtatah had on Monday turned out among hundreds of protesters who sat down in the streets of the capital, Nairobi, while chanting that police should produce seven people abducted this month.
Police hurled tear gas canisters at the protesters and when Omtatah and several others did not disperse and held on to a long chain, they were arrested.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights on Thursday raised concerns over the rising number of government critics who were apparently abducted stating that the total number of abductions stands at 82 since the anti-government protests in June.
President William Ruto on Saturday said the government would stop the abductions so that young people live in peace.
Rights groups allege the country’s police force is behind the abductions, but police have denied involvement and said they were investigating the disappearances.
Senator Omtatah on Monday filed a case at the High Court in Nairobi seeking to compel the State to produce seven youths believed to have been abducted by the police.
Young protesters said they were there in solidarity with those abducted while going about their daily life.
“We exist at a time where we have to live in fear,” a protester, Orpah Thabiti said.
Four social media users went missing after they shared AI-generated images of President Ruto that were deemed offensive by supporters of the government.
The rights commission had warned that Kenya was heading back to the “dark days” of the disappearance of government critics.
The abduction and torture of the opposition was common under the administration of the late President Daniel Moi.
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