Kenyan police use excessive force because they’re serving political elites, not the public, policy analyst says

Public protests in Kenya have often been criminalised, leading to brutal police crackdowns. This played out in recent protests against the cost of living in Kenya, and amid an attempt by the government to introduce new taxes. The police responded with force, using live bullets and lobbing teargas at protesters. More than a dozen people were reported killed and hundreds injured.

Kamau Wairuri, Lecturer in criminology at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, who has studied the policing of protests in Kenya, explains what contributes to the violence often witnessed during public demonstrations.