Kenyan lawmaker among dozens arrested during anti-abduction protests

(CNN) — Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Kenya during nationwide clashes between police and demonstrators, according to rights groups, as anger swells over a wave of alleged abductions of government critics.

Over the weekend, Kenyan President William Ruto promised to put an end to the abductions – an apparent climbdown from the leader who initially called the disappearances “fake news.”

Anti-abduction protests continued Monday, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds in the capital, Nairobi. At least 53 unarmed protesters were arrested across the country throughout the day, according to the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

CNN has approached the Kenyan police for comment.

Opposition lawmaker Okiya Omtatah and Reuben Kigame – a blind gospel singer and one-time presidential candidate – were among those arrested on Monday, KNCHR said.

Omtatah joined a sit-in protest in Nairobi and was filmed alongside demonstrators holding chains and placards, according to video shared by Agence France-Presse. One read: “When tyranny becomes the law, resistance becomes a duty.” Protesters sang the national anthem and chanted “We are peaceful” and “We have read the constitution.”

Videos also showed police attempting to break up the sit-in protest by throwing multiple tear-gas canisters towards the cowering demonstrators. Once the smoke cleared, police arrived on horseback and were seen handling several of the protesters, including Omtatah.

In a video broadcast from Omtatah’s official X account, he was seen sitting on the ground of what appeared to be a cell with several other men, arguing with armed guards.

KNCHR condemned what it called the arbitrary arrests and said the initially peaceful demonstrations “were disrupted violently by police who unleashed terror on demonstrators.” It called for the detained protesters – and those abducted earlier – to be released unconditionally.

The arrest of opposition figures may further inflame the anti-abduction protests in the East African country. At least 82 government critics have allegedly gone missing after a protest movement – spurred by Kenya’s youth – erupted in June against a controversial finance bill.

High court directive

Despite promising to put an end to the wave of alleged abductions, Ruto on Saturday did not admit government involvement in the dozens of cases of missing people. Ruto also said parents should better “take care” of their children.

The protest movement has swept across the country, with 24 arrests made in Nairobi, 13 in the southern city of Mombasa and 16 in the western city of Eldoret, according to KNCHR.

“At least four protesters were reportedly assaulted and tortured with batons and rifle butts in a Nairobi Central Police Station cell,” rights group Amnesty International Kenya said, adding that others had been struck by tear gas canisters and sustained “blunt force injuries.”

Amnesty said police had denied lawyers access to the arrested demonstrators in Nairobi and Mombasa, in violation of Kenyan law. “The Officer Commanding Station for Central Police Station (in Nairobi) turned his back on us. I think he’s under instructions from above,” Irungu Houghton, executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, told CNN.

“All suspects, all people arrested have a right to legal representation, they should not be held incommunicado, but lawyers were not able to see their clients for more than six hours today,” he said.

The president of Kenya’s Law Society, Faith Odhiambo, said the country’s High Court had granted an application to unconditionally release six of those recently abducted, including Peter Muteti and Bernard Kavuli.

Odhiambo said Kenya’s Inspector-General of Police has been ordered to comply immediately with the High Court’s directive. Security chiefs have been summoned to court on Tuesday morning and risk being held in contempt if the missing people are not released.

The protests are part of the months-long fallout from the government’s attempted finance bill in the summer. In the face of mass protests that left at least 23 people dead, Ruto eventually withdrew the bill his government had tabled, which involved a raft of measures to rein in public debt and hike taxes.

One of the protesters on Monday claimed the alleged abductions began after the finance bill debacle.

“After the finance (bill) protests in June, that’s when this started – the crackdown,” Emmanuel Ong’ao told AFP. “That’s when the abductions kicked off, that’s when they intensified. We believe it’s the directive of the government.”

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