Thousands march to protest raid on media group

Thousands of people took to the streets of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and several other towns across the country to protest last week's raid by policemen on the premises of one of the country's leading media companies. "The freedoms of Kenyans and those of the media are not favours from the government," William Ruto, secretary general of the opposition Kenya African National Union party, said in an address to the crowd at Uhuru park. The protestors were angry at Thursday's storming and vandalisation by the police of the offices of the Standard Newspapers and its sister television station, the Kenya Television Network (KTN). Internal security minister, John Michuki, said the police raided the newspaper's editorial offices, printing press and KTN studios to safeguard national security. He claimed that the newspaper was bent on inciting inter-ethnic animosity. The raid followed the questioning by police on 28 February of three journalists from the Standard group after the newspaper claimed in a report that opposition politician Kalonzo Musyoka had secretly met President Mwai Kibaki. Both the office of the president and Musyoka denied the report. "Anybody infringing on the freedom of the press go," charged Musyoka during the demonstration, demanding Michuki's resignation. Some of the protesters carried placards calling for the Kibaki's resignation. "Hitler burnt newspapers ... and the Jews," read one placard. "Operation Kibaki Out," read another. Protest marches were also held in the western town of Kisumu, Nakuru in the Rift Valley province and Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast.