Kenyans Call Out the Police for Brutality during Lockdown

A crowd of up to 200 people peacefully marched through Mathare slum in Nairobi on Monday to protest against police brutality and an increase in extrajudicial killings in the Kenyan capital. The march was organised by three grassroots organisations from the area in response to a rise in the number of police killings since a dusk-till-dawn curfew was enforced in March to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. It was also organised to show solidarity with movements worldwide to protest against police brutality. At least 15 people have been killed by police, and 31 people injured since the curfew was imposed, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said last week. Writer and commentator Patrick Gathara said policing in Kenya inherited its violence from British colonial forces, and has done nothing to change in the decades since independence. Monday’s marchers stopped at places where people had been killed. The demonstration ended near the apartment block of 13-year-old Yasin Moyo, who was shot and killed by police when he was playing on his balcony after curfew in March. At the end of the march, police used teargas to disperse the crowd.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN