Kenyan police in plainclothes fired on Nairobi protesters, Amnesty says
The rallies began peacefully, later turning violent. On June 25, the bill was scheduled for a third reading, and some demonstrators briefly stormed parliament. The police opened fire.
Kenyan police out of uniform and with no official identification fired live rounds at demonstrators at the country's parliament complex in Nairobi on June 25, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
That day saw "the use of officers without identity badges, uniforms or vehicles marked as police cars actively shooting at protesters and arresting others", Irũngũ Houghton, Amnesty's Kenya director, told Reuters as the rights group published a press release detailing its reconstruction of the events.
More To Read
- CS Murkomen defends police conduct during protests, urges IPOA to hold off judgement
- Nairobi, Kiambu hardest hit as police response to June, July protests criticised
- Murkomen warns chiefs, police over collusion in North Rift alcohol crackdown
- Terrorism or protest? What Kenyan law says about anti-government demos and charges
- CS Murkomen spells out new rules on use of firearms as police brutality cases rise
- Chief Justice Koome calls for balance between protest rights, law enforcement
The national police did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the Amnesty statement.
More than 50 people were killed in months-long protests over a controversial finance bill, creating President William
Ruto's biggest crisis since taking office in 2022. Ruto abandoned the legislation in June and sacked almost his entire cabinet.
The rallies began peacefully, later turning violent. On June 25, the bill was scheduled for a third reading, and some demonstrators briefly stormed parliament. The police opened fire.
The rights group said its reconstruction of the day's events was conducted with five partners and based on interviews with 23 witnesses and analysis of dozens of videos and photographs.
As unarmed demonstrators entered parliament, men in civilian clothes were "seen on camera firing rifles and handguns towards the crowd and in the air", Amnesty said.
"Researchers counted at least 45 shots fired within 56 seconds."
Three witnesses saw at least six bodies of protesters who they believed were shot dead at the parliament complex, the rights group said.
"I saw my friend going down," said one person interviewed for the report, whose name was withheld. "He was shot."
Amnesty's report said images showed groups of men in civilian clothes carrying weapons and working alongside the police.
Amnesty also said Kenyan police that day unlawfully fired tear gas and beat and arbitrarily detained peaceful demonstrators, while some protesters threw back tear gas canisters at officers, hurled stones, broke windows and took flags.
Top Stories Today
- Court orders exhumation of bodies in Malindi's Binzaro Village amid cult fears
- Cabinet okays religious reforms amid fears of ‘Shakahola Two’ cult resurgence
- Cabinet approves Bill to combat healthcare malpractice
- MPs order Kanja to immediately hand over HR, payroll functions to NPSC
- 'Enough is enough': Pangani residents protest poor state of Mueni Road
- Court hears grim details from Shakahola teen cult survivor on forced starvation
