NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16 – Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for investigations into police brutality following protests after the August 8, 2017 elections.
In a new report, the organisations say Kenyan police have killed at least 33 people, although the figure is being disputed by Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet.
Dubbed Kill Those Criminals’: Security Forces’ Violations in Kenya’s August 2017 Elections, the report documents excessive use of force by police, and in some cases other security agents against protesters and residents in some of Nairobi’s Opposition strongholds after the disputed elections.
“Researchers found that although police behaved appropriately in some instances, in many others they shot or beat protesters to death,” the organisations say in a statement.
The report comes two days after three protesters were shot dead in Bondo as Opposition supporters clashed with police in Western Kenya, with hundreds defying a ban on rallies to express their anger over the October 26 presidential election.
President Uhuru Kenyatta earlier Sunday warned Opposition leader Raila Odinga that he will face the full force of the law if he continues to cause violence in the pretext of demonstrations.
He said the Opposition should stop playing with the lives of Kenyans pretending to hold demonstrations while his actual intention is to cause chaos so that he can get to power through the back door.
“If you want peaceful demonstrations, hold peaceful demonstration but we will not allow anybody to violate the rights of other Kenyans,” President Kenyatta warned.
