NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya fired tear gas cans at hundreds of anti-government protesters on Tuesday. gender based violenceor femicide, in the capital, Nairobi, and arrested an unknown number of people.
Protesters chanting “Stop femicide” were dispersed by the police in a public park where they had gathered and later engaged in street battles. Several protestors were injured in the conflict on Tuesday.
One protester, Mwikali Mueni, told The Associated Press that she was wounded in the neck by uniformed police officers and was on her way to hospital.
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“It's very sad that I was injured while I was supporting women not to be injured or killed. If the president is serious about ending femicide, let him start by taking action with the officers who are brutalizing us today,” she said.
There is a a silent epidemic of gender-based violence. Police said in October that 97 women had been killed since August, most by their male partners.
Last month, President William Ruto pledged more than $700,000 to a campaign to end feminism after meeting with elected women leaders.
A UN report released in November to mark the start of a unique 16-day global campaign said Africa recorded the highest rate of female partners in 2023.
There have been a series of protests against women in Kenya and on November 25 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the police used tear gas to disperse it a handful of activists who had braved the bad weather.
Kenya was among several African countries elected to the UN Human Rights Council on October 9.
The police crackdown on protesters on Tuesday during Human Rights Day has been criticized by activists.
“Why are we beaten and blown, but we are peaceful? We will continue to come to the streets until the day women stop being killed like animals,” activist Mariam Chande told reporters.
Activists questioned law enforcement's handling of femicide cases, protesting that a suspect who confessed to killing 42 women escaped from police cells after dismembered bodies were found in plastic bags and dumped in a flooded quarry.
“It's not fair that we can't sleep well. You disappear, you come back in a bag,” said an activist who only introduced herself as Phoebe.
