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Senior police officer faces the wrath of furious journalists – VIDEO


A senior police officer was forced flee after being cornered by irate journalists who were demanding to know why they had been teargassed while covering protests by members of the civil society on Thursday in Nairobi.

Anti-riot police are reported to have turned against the journalists, who were only armed with their note books, cameras and pens, leaving them to scamper for safety.

Local and international journalists had joined protestors at the Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, to cover the anti-graft demonstrations that were organised by Kenya Civil Society and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

But as soon as the protestors had been dispersed by the anti-riot policemen, journalists apparently became their next target.

It all started when one unidentified police officer attempted to hit a cameraman who was filming the events before other journalists intervened.

DEMANDED EXPLANATIONS

When the group of journalists tried to complain to one of the senior officers, their colleagues responded by lobbing teargas canisters at them.

Angered by the incident, the journalists isolated one senior police officer and demanded explanations.

The journalists, coughing and chocking from the fumes, confronted the officer who was now heading to his vehicle, demanding an explanation for the police officers’ actions.

“Why are you turning against journalists? Why are you turning against us? We are not the people who organized the protests,” one of the journalists is heard asking the police officer.

The journalists found themselves in more trouble as a group of youths, who were watching the unfolding events from a distance, started hurling stones at them.

The unruly youths were however dispersed by the police officers who suddenly started protecting the journalists.