City women: Our dress, none of your business
Hundreds of protesters turned out to condemn the stripping naked in public of three women last week.
Plans for Monday’s demo were made through social media using the hashtag #MyDressMyChoice.
The protesters marched from Uhuru Park in Nairobi to Embassava Sacco bus stage on Accra Road, where touts were filmed ripping off a woman’s clothes.
Sacco officials denied that the culprits are their employees and blamed layabouts for the incidents.
A community group called Kilimani Mums organised the demo through Facebook and Twitter after footage of the harassment appeared online.
“The women of Kenya are not happy about how perpetrators of gender violence are let free. Today is a day to stand with the women,” an organiser, Ms Wambui Ngige, said.
THIRD VIDEO
Days after the hashtag went viral, footage of a second attack, supposedly in Mombasa, was posted online.
A third video of a woman walking naked near Odeon Cinema in Nairobi was released hours before the protest.
Activists said while the attackers may be disgusted with the mode of dressing, women have the freedom to wear what they feel comfortable in.
“Instead of teaching our daughters to dress in a certain way, we should be teaching our sons to respect women,” a protester Joan Opiyo said.
Wearing face paint, purple ribbons and white T-shirts, the protesters delivered a petition to the Inspector-General of Police and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.