Will the brutality of Kenyan Police ever come to an end? This is the question many Kenyans have been asking themselves. From forceful arrests to extreme physical approach when handling suspects, our police force is surely one that needs redemption.
The police are once again in the spotlight and this time for the inhumane manner with which they handled students from Maseno University during their demonstration.
In a video shared online by Embakasi East Mp. Babu Owino, the police can be seen making the Maseno students crawl like animals as they clobber them mercilessly.
What @PoliceKE is doing to Maseno University students is WRONG and thus must be condemned in the strongest terms possible! |@FredMatiangi pic.twitter.com/ana7PNGW3a
— Babu Owino (@Babu_Owino) November 4, 2018
Maseno Students on Sunday took to the streets to protest an attack on their comrades by local residents hence paralysing transport along the Kisumu-Busia road.
The agitated students lit bonfires on the road paralyzing transport on the busy road.
Reports indicate that the students were protesting an incident where fellow students were attacked near the Siriba campus allegedly by local villagers.
Anti riot police officers led by Kisumu West OCPD Meshack Kiptum, however, engaged the students in running battles to restore normal traffic flow.
Maseno University Communications Director Owen MC’Onyang’o said that the students were protesting over the detention of their colleagues who had gone to Maseno Police Station to report about an attack on four of their colleagues by thugs on Saturday night.
He said that the students took to the streets after their colleagues were held by the police. They claimed that the law enforcement officers were harassing them.
The OCPD dismissed earlier reports that two Maseno University student leaders were arrested when they went to Maseno Police Station to report the attack on their comrades.
“They went to make report about some of their colleagues who were attacked by thugs. While at the police station, they disagreed with the officers who then detained them.The students saw the detention as another attack and started protesting,” said Mr MC’Onyang’o.
This is not the first time the Kenyan Police are on the spotlight for brutally handling University Students. In September last year, amateur videos emerged on social media showing General Service Unit officers clobbering Nairobi University students in their halls of residence.
Earlier this year, Meru University student’s leader Evans Njoroge was reportedly killed by a well-known, tall, brawny and limping cop.
The killing is claimed to the culmination of several attempts to silence students protesting over exorbitant fees and misappropriation of funds running into tens of millions.
Njoroge alias Kidero is said to have been murdered by the Administration Police (AP) cop on February 27 after he and the chairman of the university’s students association Wangila Wabomba, led a protest outside the varsity gates along the Meru-Maua Road.
Should the Kenya Police proceed with moderation when handling student demonstrations?