Jurist Law Society of Kenya and Police Reforms Working Group call for lawful police conduct ahead of planned protests

[Dadparvar]

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Police Reforms Working Group published a statement on Wednesday urging the National Police Service to respect and uphold human rights ahead of demonstrations in the country planned for Thursday. The joint statement underscores the police’s constitutional commitment to preserve the right to peaceful assembly while also protecting demonstrators from armed groups seeking to disrupt the protests.

LSK and the Working Group also stated that:

Police must also refrain from unlawfully using tear gas and high-velocity mobile water cannons against people including mothers and children in their homes. Tear gas must never be used in confined spaces. Previous actions have served no legitimate purpose and ended up punishing the public, many of them bystanders. Such use of force in residential areas is even more dangerous today as many children are on school break.

Thursday’s demonstrations, dubbed #NaneNaneMarch on social media platforms like X, are a continuation of Gen Z youth’s demand for government accountability and economic liberation. The demonstrations have been characterized by police brutality, abductions, and fatalities. This is despite a court ruling prohibiting police officers from firing tear gas and water cannons on protesters. Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, have demanded an end to police brutality and arbitrary arrests during rallies.

LSK and the Working Group have also condemned the use of intimidation measures against Social Justice Centers, such as arrests and summons, to get them to withdraw from the protests. They urged the Acting Police Inspector General to avoid deploying unarmed police officers in unarmed vehicles and ensure that the use of force is proportional to immediate harm. They also implored IPOA to launch timely investigations into the series of abductions and wrongful detention.

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