IG Koome Goes After Cop Attacking Media Vehicle During Azimio Protests
Koome at the same time issued an apology to journalists who sustained injuries inflicted by police while covering protests, arguing that it was accidental instead of intentional.
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Inspector General of Police (IG) Japhet Koome on Tuesday, April 4 announced that investigations have been launched against a police officer who was captured on camera breaking and smashing the Azimio la Umoja media vehicle during protests on Thursday, March 30.
Speaking to journalists at the Kenya School of Government, where the interviews for the new deputy inspector general of police are ongoing, Koome vowed action against the officer if found culpable, under the arm of the law like any other Kenyan.
Koome at the same time issued an apology to journalists who sustained injuries inflicted by police while covering protests, arguing that it was accidental instead of intentional.
He further promised that under his leadership, the media and the police would coexist to promote the common goal of serving Kenyans without any conflict.
"It is not deliberate. We have no intention of injuring any of you, you are fellow Kenyans. I don't derive any pleasure or anger from injuring fellow Kenyans but when the situation demands, I have a duty to ensure that there's law and order in the country
"You are able to transact messages for the sake of our economy. We must ensure that there's free movement of the people and that is how we got into the situation we were in recently," he stated.
Koome further thanked Azimio leader, Raila Odinga and President William Ruto for brokering a truce that made the former call off the weekly demonstrations, which has allowed the police to focus on preventing criminal activities in the country as one of the primary mandates.
"I thank the politicians, they pronounced themselves and called off the demonstrations, they are talking and we in the police service can now spend more time in crime intervention other than managing rioters' situation," he appreciated.
"Some of us have relatives and close friends who are journalists. I cannot wake up one day with the intention to harm you."
The media vehicle was part of the motorcade which was ferrying Raila between Embakasi and Nairobi, where he made several stops to address a crowd consisting mostly of his loyal supporters.
The media vehicle was following the lead vehicle and was ferrying media teams and equipment including a Public Address (PA) system that enables politicians to speak through the microphone while addressing crowds of people so that their message is clear.
A crowd that was adjacent to the convoy was dispersed by teargas lobbed by police officers, leaving the motorcade on the front line and subject to overwhelming teargas attacks. The occupants hanging from the lead vehicle dropped off to catch their breath as the lead vehicle opted to make a U-turn, a signal to the rest of the motorcade that it was time to turn back, leaving the media vehicle at the front and the most vulnerable.
The vehicle's occupants as well as the driver abandon the vehicle, but the journalists atop the SUV were seen signalling to the police their surrender by raising their hands, signals the police ignored as they kept lobbing teargas coupled with water cannons as the rest of the vehicles turned back.
The journalists, some of whom were badly injured, managed to alight from the media vehicle's roof and seek refuge as the vehicle sat idle in the middle of a wet road clouded with teargas, with its sound equipment abandoned and windscreen damaged.
However, what would be expected to be a calm situation soon turned chaotic as the plainclothes police officer approached the vehicle as captured in a video that went viral across social media platforms, breaking its windshield and firing a teargas canister inside.
As the other officer holds the vehicle at gunpoint in anticipation of smoking out anyone who may have been left inside, the aforementioned officer returns for another round, this time breaking the driver's window and firing another canister into the vehicle before walking away, checking his gun.
The video elicited uproar across the media industry, with most of the anger directed at the officer who was also caught on camera during the March 20 demonstrations in City Hallway in the company of a colleague who was dressed in a green dungaree, carrying a blue backpack full of teargas canisters and hiding his face in a gas mask and hair in a turban.
A journalist who covered the first round of mass protests revealed that the officer in plain clothes appeared looking agitated and began firing teargas canisters aimlessly, lobbing two at the journalist and his colleagues all donning press jackets and bearing press badges as well as two more at hapless women who were passing by before walking away to join his colleagues.
Image of a plainclothes police officer attacking a media vehicle belonging to Azimio la Umoja coalition on March 30, 2023. /EAST AFRICAN
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