Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has come forward to support police officers who were seen in a viral video taking laptops from a shop during protests on Tuesday in Nairobi’s Central Business District.
The video, which has upset many people online, shows police officers putting laptops into a police vehicle while chaos was happening due to protests honouring a teacher named Albert Ojwang’. Some Kenyans suggested that the police were looting too.
However, Passaris strongly defended the officers, saying the video was misunderstood and that the officers were actually collecting stolen items.
“I just spoke with the Regional Police Commandant in Nairobi, Mr Seda. The laptops taken from the electronics shop were recovered and are now safely with the police,” Passaris stated in a message on Wednesday morning.
She added, “Nation Media, your headline saying ‘police leave with laptops’ is wrong. The right word is ‘recovered’, not ‘leave’.
Her comments come as people are paying more attention to how police acted during the protests, which became violent when some troublemakers joined peaceful demonstrators and started stealing from businesses and attacking people.
These troublemakers, armed with sticks and knives, reportedly attacked bystanders, snatched bags and phones, and broke into shops.
Even though things were chaotic, videos showed police seeming to hold back against these offenders, which made people suspicious about their actions.
Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka expressed strong criticism, saying that the police seemed to be protecting these criminal groups. “What we witnessed was unacceptable. The police ignored armed gangs while turning against peaceful protesters,” he said in a press briefing.
In another shocking event, a street vendor selling face masks was shot at close range by a police officer, and this incident was caught on video that went viral quickly.
The video shows one officer slapping the vendor while another officer hits him with the butt of his gun before the shooting.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja later confirmed that the officer involved has been arrested and will face trial.
“We do not tolerate this kind of violence. The officer has been taken into custody and will answer for his actions,” he said.