Traffic along Nairobi’s busy Kenyatta Avenue was disrupted on Thursday morning after a group of women staged protests to demand action over what they described as a growing wave of alleged abductions targeting young men in parts of the city.
The demonstrators, many of them mothers, marched through the Central Business District carrying placards and waving twigs as they called for the immediate release of missing youths and accountability from authorities.
The women said young men from Mathare, Huruma and Kiamaiko informal settlement areas had reportedly been abducted in recent weeks, causing fear among the families who now have no idea where their loved ones are.
With the increasing number of people, the women closed off part of Kenyatta Avenue, causing traffic snarls on that avenue as motorists were forced to look for alternative means to get to their destinations.
Some people who witnessed what was happening joined the demonstration as they watched the protest which also caught the attention of some policemen. Business operations in some parts of the CBD ground to a halt.
Some of the demonstrators raised slogans while others carried placards in demand for justice saying the government has left families to look for their missing relatives without offering any help.
They asked the government and security agencies to investigate the disappearance cases and trace the people who have disappeared.
Thursday’s demonstration is part of an increasing public concern over enforced disappearance cases that have left many families and human rights organizations worried.
