Kenya: RSF condemns violent attack on four journalists by police during a demonstration
Four journalists were brutally attacked or prevented from working by police while covering demonstrations in eastern Nairobi on March 5. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemns these attacks and calls on the Kenyan police to identify and punish those responsible, as they have promised to do.
Covering demonstrations can be costly for Kenyan journalists. On Wednesday March 5, four journalists were targeted by police while covering demonstrations in Majengo, in the Pumwani district east of the capital Nairobi. The unrest had erupted the previous evening, following the death of a 17-year-old teenager during a police operation in the district.
At around 10 a.m., as they were preparing to return to their downtown office after covering the events, journalists from the NTV television station witnessed the violent assault of reporter Justine Ondieki, a photojournalist with the Eastleigh Voice, by police officers. As soon as NTV camerawoman Leah Wambui Kurema began filming the incident, an officer from the paramilitary branch of the Kenya Police Service (General Service Unit, GSU) forced open the passenger door of the vehicle she was in, brutally dragged her out, assaulted her and forced her to delete her footage of the assault.
Dennis Onsongo, photojournalist for NTV, was slapped by the police as he tried to help his colleague. Meanwhile, Enos Teche, a photojournalist with The Star newspaper, who was just a few meters from the journalists' vehicle, was prevented from taking photos of the scene. One GSU officer blocked his path, while another brandished a baton above his head, ordering him to leave the scene.
National Police Service (NPS) spokesman Muchiri Nyaga condemned the attack and announced that the police would “identify the officers, and action will follow”.
Removing a journalist from her reporting vehicle in order to assault her, and forcing her to delete images taken in the course of her work are totally unacceptable attacks. The extreme violence with which the police treated these four journalists in the middle of covering a demonstration confirms the safety problems facing media professionals in the country. RSF calls on the Kenyan authorities to identify and punish those responsible, as the police spokesman has pledged to do.
After being severely beaten, photojournalist Justine Ondieki was detained for nearly five hours in a police vehicle, where his camera was damaged, confiscated and its contents erased. He had to be hospitalized.
Recurrent attacks on journalists
This is not the first time RSF has sounded the alarm about violence against journalists during protests in Kenya. In August 2024, our organization referred six cases of violence against journalists to the authorities who oversee the Kenyan police for serious investigation, after a police officer fired rubber bullets at Kameme TV reporter Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki, leaving her laying on the ground with a bloodied leg during an anti-government protest. Several journalists were also directly targeted by tear gas fire.
