Police officers deployed to Juja, Kiambu County, to calm protesting Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) students have now come under heavy criticism for allegedly using excessive force against the learners.
This comes after numerous videos went viral online in which the officers were seen seemingly brutalising the students even way after the demonstration had ended and the institution closed.
In one of the videos, three officers are seen beating up an unarmed student lying on the ground, with two of them both kicking him on the head twice.
Another batch of officers, in a second video, are seen forcefully breaking into the gates to an apartment occupied by students where they are reported to have fired tear gas canisters in a bid to smoke them out.
In yet a third video, a lone policeman is seen running outside one of the hostels while firing at presumably students ahead of him.
The incidences have since drawn mass criticism, with Kenyans on Twitter urging the National Police Service (NPS) as well as the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to begin probe.
JKUAT Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Prof. Robert Kinyua, in a memo issued on Monday, said the Senate had in a special meeting resolved to shut down the institution following student unrest.
Prof. Kinyua further directed all students to clear from the campus by mid-day.
The institution’s main campus students earlier on took to the streets in protest against alleged security concerns in the area.
They engaged Juja Police Station officers in running battles accusing them of not doing enough to protect them, further accused area boda boda operators of colluding with criminals to rob unsuspecting students.
We call upon this bodies @NPSOfficial_KE @DCI_Kenya @IPOA_KE to investigate this clip on how cops man handled a student who was walking home and not protesting #jkuat pic.twitter.com/oJW5mjBEgd
— ALBOH_NYAKWARA ?? (@nyakwara_albert) November 11, 2019
Retweet Widely until this gets to the whole world. @citizentvkenya @KTNKenya @K24Tv @DCI_Kenya
Situation in Juja, outside #Jkuat pic.twitter.com/kPuOwgwEBO
— Edd Eddie Eddiest (@Eddiest_KE) November 11, 2019
#JKUAT hamjui mbio???
I feel emotional ??? pic.twitter.com/hv9qlnSQ2l— Bevalyne Kwamboka (@bevalynekwambo3) November 11, 2019
sai mnacheza call of duty na mastude shame! #jkuat pic.twitter.com/BCpYzpShpt
— s_c_a_r_? (@LloydHarry4) November 11, 2019
Students at #JKUAT are entitled to the various constitutional rights and freedoms and these videos am seeing are deathly, torturous, inhumane, ghastly and bizarre @IG_NPS @NPSOfficial_KE @DCI_Kenya This is not right
— Monsieur Emile (@AmThePaul) November 11, 2019
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