- Outspoken activist Hanifa Adan once again found herself in the police crosshairs outside the Office of the President along Nairobi’s Harambee Avenue.
- Honeyfarsafi joined other activists, including Boniface Mwangi, in a procession to the president’s office to present a list of missing Kenyans.
- The missing persons are widely believed to have either been abducted or murdered during the recent protests witnessed in Kenya.
Activists Assaulted by Police Despite Having an Appointment at the President’s Harambee House Offices
Kenyan human rights defenders on Tuesday marched peacefully to President Ruto’s Harambee Avenue Office.
The activists furnished the office with a list of Kenyans still missing following the intense protests against poor governance and punitive laws.
According to human rights activist Hussein Khalid, they felt compelled to deliver the list after the president claimed he had no knowledge of abductions by the police.
The list contains 60 names of Kenyans who are feared dead and 14 more who are still missing.
President Ruto downplayed reports of illegal abduction at one of his recent engagements in Nyanza.
As the band of activists approached, officers guarding the premises pounced with brutal force. The usually tranquil Harambee Avenue was momentarily chaotic as the police engaged them.
In the fracas, police allegedly tried to arrest and whisk away photojournalist Boniface Mwangi who was leading the group.
Hanifa Adan Unmasks Rougue Police Officers in an Intense Confrontation at Nairobi CBD
Masked policemen engaged the activists with their prime target being Boniface Mwangi. A group of armed men wrestled him to the ground to arrest him.
Mwangi’s comrades came to his defense as they tried to untangle him from the hands of the officers.
Amid the havoc, Hanifa instinctively peeled off a mask from one of the men to expose his face. The masked men had ignored numerous appeals to identify themselves.
Boniface Mwangi has reacted to the incident saying that he just survived an abduction attempt right outside the president’s office.
“This wasn’t a protest! We had an official appointment with the office of the president to deliver a list of the dead, and missing. Masked police tried to abduct me. I started shouting after surviving a failed abduction that left me with injuries, torn clothes, and a broken watch,” wrote Mwangi on X.
Boniface Mwangi survived the arrest after bold women activists pinned him to the ground giving protective cover against the armed men.
Police were seemingly unable to pick him up, as they marched and hoisted some of his colleagues onto a waiting police van.
Armed with batons and assorted weapons, the police yanked some of the activists around as they tried to pull away from the administration police officers.
“This particular officer kept grabbing my hand all the time and pushing me away! Every police with a mask on and in plain clothes shall be treated as a criminal!!!!!'” posted Hanifa on X.
Police Disturbing Brutality Record
The Harambee Avenue incident is the latest in a string of disturbing cases where the police have used excessive force against unarmed civilians.
Just recently, the country watched in shock as a university student was dragged on the ground, fiercely battered, and a teargas canister detonated close to him.
The Multimedia University student was caught between protesting students and anti-riot police officers within the campus premises.
A viral video circulated on social media showed police officers beating the student to a pulp. The student coiled to protect his torso while favoring his hurt ankle. Police later detonated a teargas canister that exploded just centimeters away from him.
In the recent protests spearheaded by Kenya’s Gen Z, police came under fire for using unnecessary brute force against the young protestors.
Throughout the protests, many youngsters lay injured in make-shift hospitals set up along Nairobi’s streets.
Others were tragically murdered by police bullets, particularly in the aftermath of the unprecedented #OccupyParliament protests.
