Police fire tear gas on crowds protesting Kenya blogger's death in custody
Protesters took to the streets of Kenya's capital Nairobi to express their fury over the death of a blogger arrested by police last week, as the country's police watchdog reported that 20 people had died in custody over the last four months.
Police used tear gas to disperse crowds gathered close to the capital's parliamentary building on Thursday to protest against the death of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old blogger arrested in the western town of Homa Bay last week for criticising the country's deputy police chief Eliud Lagat.
Police had initially said Ojwang died 'after hitting his head against a cell wall', but pathologist Bernard Midia, part of a team that conducted an autopsy, said the wounds – including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage – pointed to assault as the cause of death.
On Wednesday, President William Ruto admitted Ojwang had died 'at the hands of the police', reversing earlier official accounts of his death, saying in a statement that it was 'heartbreaking and unacceptable'.
Kenyan media outlets reported on Thursday that a police constable had been arrested over Ojwang's death.
Reporting from the protests in Nairobi, Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb said that Ojwang, who wrote about political and social issues, had posted online about Lagat's alleged role in a 'bribery scandal', in which the deputy police chief had already been implicated by a newspaper investigation.
'It's angered people that he was detained for that, and then days later, dead in a police station,' said Webb, who added that people were calling for Lagat to be held to account, and 'persisting in throwing stones at the police in spite of one volley of tear gas after the next being fired at them'.
The case has shone a light on the country's security services, who have been accused of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances for years.
On Thursday, Independent Policing Oversight Authority chairperson Issak Hassan told lawmakers that there had been '20 deaths in police custody in the last four months'.
The authorities are now conducting an official investigation into Ojwang's death.
On Wednesday, Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised for police having previously implied that Ojwang died by suicide, telling a Senate hearing: 'He did not hit his head against the wall.'
Ojwang's death comes almost a year after several activists and protesters were killed and taken by police during finance bill protests – many are still missing.
The rallies led to calls for the removal of Ruto, who was criticised for the crackdown.
Amnesty International said Ojwang's death in custody on Saturday 'must be urgently, thoroughly and independently investigated'.
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Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
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Kenya police officer arrested over blogger's death in custody
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Al Jazeera
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'I think the sort of grievances about the peace process are being grafted onto the wider concerns about immigration.' The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said at this stage there was no evidence of unionist paramilitary involvement in the recent violence in the town. However, a report published last month by the independent human rights group Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) points to a connection. The study, titled Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland, analysed seven incidents of anti-immigrant protests that have taken place in Northern Ireland since 2023. Daniel Holder, the organisation's director, said the latest unrest followed a 'fairly familiar pattern'. 'What we noticed … is that they're all being called and taking place in areas where there is significant loyalist activity,' and are featuring a 'degree of paramilitary control', he told Al Jazeera. Holder also said such riots have mostly taken place during the summer, coinciding with the loyalist marching season, a tradition among Protestant and Loyalist communities that runs from Easter Monday to September. He struck a note of caution over accounts suggesting the involvement of Catholic nationalists in the unionist stronghold of Ballymena and said the notion of a broader 'coming together' of the two historic rivals was unlikely. Immigration appears to be the main concern for protesters. Since 2015, more than 1,800 Syrian refugees have been settled in Northern Ireland via the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which was renamed the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (NIRRS) in 2020. General immigration has been on the rise as well. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Paul Frew told the BBC that tensions over this have been rising for some time in Ballymena and people were 'frightened about illegal immigration'. Anger about austerity policies – and the retraction of welfare programmes – since the global financial crisis of 2008 has compounded concerns about immigration. Grievances over poor housing conditions and housing shortages, in particular, have been used to scapegoat migrants and to favour a narrative of 'mass uncontrolled migration that simply is not factually true', Holder said. The CAJ report, he said, found no clear correlation between the areas where violence has flared up in Northern Ireland since 2023 and poverty rates or high immigration rates. 'When you look at the pattern of where attacks are taking place, they're not in the most deprived areas,' Holder said. 'What this points to is that attacks involve particular far-right elements, including some elements of loyalist paramilitary organisations, rather than this being tied to either migration levels or deprivation.' Official figures from the Northern Ireland Assembly show that it is the least diverse part of the UK, with 3.4 percent of the population identifying as part of a minority ethnic group, compared with 18.3 percent in England and Wales and 12.9 percent in Scotland. According to the most recent census data in 2021, immigration to Northern Ireland is relatively low, but it is rising. The percentage of the population born outside of the UK rose from 6.5 percent in 2011 to 8.6 percent in 2021. Some ministers have been accused of fanning the flames of unrest. Several ministers condemned the violence in strong terms. First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the 'racist and sectarian attacks on families' were 'abhorrent and must stop immediately'. Finance Minister John O'Dowd described the attackers as 'racist thugs', while Justice Minister Naomi Long said the violence was 'completely unjustified and unjustifiable'. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who leads the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said, 'Hate-fuelled acts and mob rule do nothing but tear at the fabric of our society.' On Thursday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons rejected calls for him to resign over a social media post in which he revealed the location of the leisure centre in Larne that was later attacked. Tyler Hoey, a Democratic Unionist Party councillor and local representative, condemned the violence but also accused the UK government of taking 'busloads' of unvetted migrants to the area. Sociologist John Nagle, who lectures at Queen's University in Belfast, told Al Jazeera that several unionist politicians condemned the riots while repeating the unfounded claim that Ballymena had become 'a dumping ground' for migrants. 'Although the government has quickly come out to denounce the protests, to some extent that has been caveated by some politicians who are trying to use this as a way to highlight their opposition towards migration and refugees,' Nagle said. Sociologist Ruth McAreavey, who lectures at Newcastle University, said general surveys show that Northern Ireland has become more welcoming towards migrants over time and less likely to want to see reduced levels of immigration. The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey found that 94 percent of respondents in 2024 said they would be willing to accept a person from a minority ethnic group in their area, compared with only 53 percent who said they would feel comfortable in 2005. However, McAreavey said fast-paced demographic changes have taken place within a 'socially conservative place' as it navigates global economic upheavals, including the decline of its predominantly industrial economy, most notably in the shipbuilding and textile sectors. 'There is a level of discontent that people are taking to the streets,' McAreavey said, adding that this was compounded by austerity measures that rolled back the welfare state. 'The lack of those resources does not help for the incorporation of different social groups into society and to help achieve social cohesion,' she said. 'People feel they're not in control and things are happening to them, as opposed to a more natural, organic change.'
