Kenya police fire tear gas at protest against alleged government abductions

Several, including politician, reportedly among those detained by police in Nairobi at site of antigov’t protests.

Police in Kenya’s capital Nairobi have fired tear gas to disperse protesters demonstrating against what they say is a wave of unexplained abductions of government critics.

Dozens of Kenyans have been abducted in recent months, according to human rights groups, who blame the extrajudicial arrests on Kenya’s police and intelligence services.

Kenyan authorities have said the government does not condone or engage in extrajudicial killings or abductions.

Some groups of young protesters marched in downtown Nairobi on Monday, while small groups of others staged sit-ins as clouds of tear gas hung in the air. They chanted slogans against the government, with some holding placards denouncing illegal detentions as police on horseback patrolled nearby.

Among the protesters was opposition lawmaker Okiya Omtatah, who was taking part in a sit-in, with demonstrators using thick chains to hold them together as riot police tried to prise them apart.