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Kenya – Police in Kenya hurled teargas canisters Tuesday at hundreds of protesters against gender-based violence, or femicide, in the capital, Nairobi, and arrested an unknown number of people.
According to Africanews, protesters chanting “stop femicide” were dispersed by police in a public park where they had gathered and later engaged in running battles along the streets.
Several protesters were injured in the confrontation Tuesday.
Kenya has a silent epidemic of gender-based violence. Police in October said 97 women had been killed since August, most by their male partners.
Last month, President William Ruto committed more than US$700,000 for a campaign to end femicide after meeting with elected women leaders.
A U.N. report released in November to mark the start of a separate 16-day global campaign said Africa recorded the highest rate of partner-related femicide in 2023.
There has been a series of anti-femicide protests in Kenya and on November 25 during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, police used tear gas to disperse a handful of protesters who had braved the bad weather.
Kenya is among several African countries elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Oct. 9.
The police crackdown on protesters on Tuesday during Human Rights Day has been criticized by activists.
“Why are we being beaten and tear-gassed, yet we are peaceful? We will keep coming to the streets till the day women will stop being slaughtered like animals,” activist Mariam Chande told journalists.
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