Drama as police attempt to arrest Boniface Mwangi during march for missing protesters

A bitter confrontation ensued between activists and police officers at the gate of Harambee House after the cops attempted to arrest Boniface Mwangi.

The other activists, led by Hussein Khalid, grabbed Mwangi from the firm hands of the officers and thwarted his arrest.

This happened as activists and families of missing anti-government protesters sought to present the names of their missing kin to the security officials.

However, drama started when the police officers tried to bar the activists from accessing the gate, with rogue officers even attacking journalists' and destroying their equipment.

Citizen Digital’s Eric Owenga was attacked and his phone confiscated by a police officer for recording videos of the incident.

The march was occasioned by remarks made by President William Ruto during a town hall session in Kisumu on August 29, 2024.

The President said then that he was not aware of any Kenyan who was abducted by the country’s security agencies during or after the recent spate of anti-government protests across the nation.

He went ahead to urge citizens whose kin or friends had gone missing under mysterious circumstances during protests to come forward with their names to action to be taken by the government.

“If there is a family that their child or friend or relative went to a demonstration, whether it is last year or this year, and never came back, I want to know the names because I will take firm and decisive action,” he said then.

“Because as I talk to you today, I don’t have a single name of somebody who has been abducted or disappeared. Kama uko na jina ya mtu alienda maandamano na akapotea, haijulikana mahali yuko, tunataka jina yake, familia yake wakuje.”

Khalid, in a poster shared about the Tuesday march, said they would: “present a list at Harambee House of extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances since the onset of the Gen Z protests.”

He noted that the list would be presented Principal Administrative Secretary inb the Executive Office of the President, Arthur Osiya, with whom they had reportedly secured an appointment.