Hundreds of Kenyan youth leaving the Summer Tides Festival in Diani on Sunday, July 6, were left stranded after police officers blocked them from progressing with their journey.
Reporting the incident, activist and Vocal Africa founder Hussein Khalid shared a video of the youths blocked at the Dongo Kundu Bypass in Likoni, as traffic built up along the busy highway.
This unprecedented delay reportedly led to those who were planning to catch a 2pm SGR ride back to Nairobi to miss it as the work week begins on Monday.
Reportedly, this roadblock was so that the youths would not attend the planned Saba Saba Day protest slated for July 7.
"Now police are curtailing freedom of movement! Nkt! Hundreds of youth from Nairobi who had attended the Diani Summer Tide Festival have been stopped at the Dongo Kundu bypass near Likoni, Mombasa," Khalid wrote.
"They were to catch the 2pm SGR to Nairobi, but they have been stopped by police who are saying if allowed to proceed, the youth will go to Nairobi and attend Saba Saba Day protests."
Reportedly, the police officers have refused to release them, citing orders from above.
Khalid denounced the action as "absolute madness," highlighting that the freedom movement is a constitutional guarantee. "Now police want to dictate to Kenyans where to go and where not to?" he mused.
As Kenyans continue to prepare for the upcoming Saba Saba Day protests, tensions have heightened even as the government insists that the day will be a normal workday.
Speaking in Embu on Sunday, the Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku warned civil servants planning to skip the work day of severe consequences.
Meanwhile in Nairobi, armed goons infiltrated the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) offices to disperse Kenyan mothers who had gathered for a press briefing ahead of Monday's protests.
The goons accused the mothers of planning the protests, although they had called the press to implore the authorities to desist from inflicting violence on their children as has been the norm in previous protests.
