Several thousand Muslims took to the streets of Nairobi after prayers on Friday to accuse Kenyan police of discriminatory arrests and harassment. The demonstrators marched from Nairobi's main mosque to police headquarters chanting and waving slogans like "Stop harassing Muslims" and "We don't want anti-terror police."
Although rowdy and provoking a round of tear gas from riot police at one stage, the demonstration was non-violent. Kenya's Muslim community has long complained of being marginalised by authorities, and feels it has been unfairly targeted in the fight against terrorism, particularly since 1998 and 2002 attacks blamed on Al Qaeda-linked extremists. According to the demonstrators, Friday's rally was fuelled by two recent cases: the arrest of a Muslim man outside the Israeli Embassy, and the arrest of a man whose car was implicated in a recent shootout with police.
Local media have linked that shootout with a possible plot to kill Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who was visiting Nairobi this week. "We came to complain to the government and specifically to the police commission against the anti-terror police unit," 25-year-old demonstrator Halimo Daro said. "This unit is terrorising Muslims. It is unconstitutional." |