ARBITRARY RAIDS AND ARRESTS IN NAIROBI PERPETUATE INSECURITY AND TERRORISM.
On May 15, 10 people were killed and 70 injured when two blasts hit a popular market in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. This occurred only a few hours after a massive public outcry over a directive by the Inspector General of police for all window tinting to be removed from vehicles. The matatu (taxi) that had the explosives was not tinted.
In another of the many recent attacks, two police officers and two other men were killed when a car bomb exploded in a police station in Nairobi in late April. Just days before, more than 3,000 people had been arrested and held in a make-shift camp at a stadium in Nairobi. Human rights groups reported that men, women and children were held in terrible conditions, with women denied sanitary pads and one woman even giving birth while being detained in the stadium.
About a month before, explosive devices in two eateries in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood killed six people and wounded another 25. As we’ve come to expect, the next morning police rounded up at least 900 people for questioning only to release most the next day without pressing any charges.
And the raids affect all walks of life. These sweeping arrests even caught a high level Somali diplomat, violating…