Human rights groups led by Katiba Institute and Kenya Human Rights Commission have vowed to institute charges against the police for arresting and detaining incommunicado dozens of Saba Saba protesters.
The detainees said to be 32 in number were arrested while participating in the protests called by Azimio leader Raila Odinga on Friday to mount pressure on the Kenya Kwanza government to lower taxes and the cost of living.
Speaking on Saturday shortly after a group of lawyers and activists who had gone to bail out the protesters at Central Police Station were teargassed, lawyer Soyinka Lempaa from Katiba Institute said the police action will not go unpunished.
"When they present them in court on Monday, we will deal with them and thereafter, we will sue them because it has become a habit by the police to arbitrarily arrest people over crimes they cannot prove in court," he claimed.
Lempaa was speaking to the media flanked by the Kenya Human Rights Commission executive director Davis Malombe.
Malombe said the police claimed they are holding the protesters on charges of unlawful assembly, assault and destruction of property.
"From our side, we are extremely disappointed by this action which is coming 60 years after independence, 30 years after multipartyism, and 13 years after the adoption of the new Constitution," he said.
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga had camped at the Central Police Station to secure police bail for the detained protesters after a failed bid on Friday night.
He was accompanied by several activists including Boniface Mwangi, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights commissioner Victor Kamau and lawyer Lempaa.
The group was later teargassed by the police at the station forcing them to scamper for safety with police in hot pursuit.
Kenyans, politicians, lawyers and human rights activists condemned the act terming it regressive and akin to the dark days of the single-party dictatorship.
Lawyer Gitobu Imanyara and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka said it's not criminal for anyone to visit a police station to seek the release of suspects on bail as it is provided by law.
