Kenyan Nairobi blasts: Police arrest 627 in Eastleigh

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

At least 627 people have been arrested in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, following explosions that killed six people, the police chief has said.

David Kimaiyo said about 200 of them were thought to be sympathisers of the militant Islamist group al-Shabab.

The rest of those arrested were still being screened, he added.

The arrests took place in the mainly Somali neighbourhood of Eastleigh, which was hit by three blasts during rush-hour on Monday evening.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26838638

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"The usual suspects" seems to be a pretty big category in Kenya ...

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. They arrested 627 people? What was their crime? Being Somali?

[yellowcanine]

8. No they were also Muslim and young men aged 18-25!

Another form of three strikes and you are out.

[Turbineguy]

2. Sounds like they rounded up

over three times the usual suspects.

[cosmicone]

3. Zero tolerance for terrorism

If they sympathize with the terrorists, they are de facto accessories to the crimes.

Throw the 627 in for life without parole. This will serve as a real deterrent.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Your fanaticism is notable. And scary.

You really want to mass arrest and then imprison for life people who may "sympathize" with Al Shabab? You are talking about perpetual imprisonment for what is basically a thought crime.

[yellowcanine]

7. So no trial or anything - "Guilty" because they were arrested?

Eastleigh is the main neighborhood in Nairobi where Somalis live. There is a good chance that many of these individuals were rounded up because they fit a particular profile (Somali, Muslim, young men). In this country we used to say that profiling was wrong. Now I don't know.

[forkol]

4. I'm now just heading back from there...

I'm now swinging my way back to the US, and one of the places I visited was Kenya as a part of my trip. I just visited there a few weeks ago.

They Kenyans are in between a rock and a hard place. Because of various bombings, tourism is WAY down, which many in Mombasa and parts or Nairobi rely on. They are quite unhappy that the US has put out a travel warning, but I actually agree with the US here. I think the Kenyans are trying the best that they can, but I think there's just no way to control what people are going to do. I think they are going to make a show of force on this, regardless of the people they round up are innocent or not. I don't think most Kenyans really care for the Somali presence in the country anyway.

I did go to the City Mall in Mombasa (had to go there for Internet access), and to even get in there, it was like entering a military base, they would search your car and you would have two baggage check even before you entered the mall.

I actually stayed overnight in a hotel in Eastleigh. It did feel much different than other parts of the city (which is saying quite a bit, because it's just SO many people in Nairobi you already feel quite claustrophobic). My hotel was more like a compound, locked gates to enter and exit.

[Glimmer of Hope]

6. I guess the travel warnings are necessary but it feels quite safe ouside the center of Nairobi.

I hope this doesn't deter people from going there.