One dead in Kenya protests as Ruto blames police for blogger’s death

Nairobi — One person was killed in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, on Tuesday during protests sparked by the death of a blogger in police custody that has inflamed long-standing accusations of extrajudicial killings by security forces.

A Reuters journalist saw the man’s body on the ground with a bleeding head wound, his hand clutching a packet of face masks.

A video aired on Kenyan broadcaster Citizen Television’s X account showed two policemen repeatedly striking the man on his head before one of them fired at him with a rifle as he tried to walk away. The man fell to the ground as people in the crowd shouted: “You have killed him.”

Another video aired on the Nation newspaper’s website featured a witness saying the dead man was selling face masks and was not a protester.

Reuters could not independently verify the two videos.

A policeman was arrested over the shooting. "Following this incident, the inspector-general [of the] National Police Service ordered the immediate arrest and arraignment in court of the involved officer," Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said in a statement later on Tuesday.

The death of 31-year-old blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang on June 8 has been a lightning rod for public anger, a year after more than 60 people were killed during protests initially sparked by proposed tax increases.

Police first said he had committed suicide, but Kenya’s police chief later apologised after an independent autopsy found that Ojwang’s wounds pointed to assault as the cause of death.

As demonstrators took to the streets of Nairobi on Tuesday, police fired tear gas. Clashes also broke out when unidentified motorcyclists beat up protesters, dispersing them.

Amnesty International’s Kenya chapter, in a post on X, referred to the presence of dozens of motorbikes with two hooded passengers whipping protesters and members of the public.

President William Ruto said last week that Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police” which he called “heartbreaking and unacceptable”.

Ojwang was arrested as part of an investigation triggered by a formal complaint by deputy police chief Eliud Lagat, according to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority watchdog.

Citizen TV said demonstrations had spread to Kenya’s second-largest city, Mombasa, on Tuesday, and showed protesters shouting slogans and holding placards saying, “Stop killing us”.

Last week, hundreds of people demonstrated in Nairobi and cars were set alight over the blogger’s death.

Lagat said on Monday he had stepped aside temporarily, pending the completion of an investigation into Ojwang’s death. Two senior officers and a closed-circuit television (CCTV) technician, who had been called to dismantle the CCTV at the police station, have been arrested in connection with the investigation. 

Reuters