Umm Muhammed Umar      01.04.20

Police officers have been taking a more than tough stance in implementing a curfew put in place to stave off the spread of the coronavirus in Kenya. The night-time curfew, between 07:00 and 19:00 local time, was introduced last Friday.

It was heavy-handedly enforced by police officers who were captured on camera using whips, batons, and firing tear gas on commuters.

At least two people have been killed by Kenyan police action, one, a 13-year-old boy, Yasin Hussein Moyo, who was hit by a stray bullet on Monday evening, while playing on the balcony of his parent’s house in Nairobi, with his siblings. Yasin’s 19-year-old sister, Aisha Hussein said their mother had shouted at them to go upstairs just minutes earlier, as gunfire could be heard in the streets. On the balcony the children noticed a targeting light, heard another gunshot, and scattered, all but Yasin, whose sister says, “just stood there, stunned.”

The other death was that of a motorcycle taxi driver, Hamisi Juma Mbega, who was beaten to death by police. He had breached the curfew by taking a pregnant woman to a hospital in Mombasa.

Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, apologised to the public saying, “I want to apologise to all Kenyans, maybe for some excesses which were conducted or happened.”

Umm Muhammed Umar