A KENYAN senator was among those arrested today for taking part in street protests against a surge in kidnappings of government critics.

Senator Okiya Omtatah had joined hundreds of protesters who sat down on the streets of the capital Nairobi while chanting that police should free seven people abducted this month. The protest was attacked by officers using tear gas.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has documented 82 abductions of government critics since June. On Saturday, President William Ruto said the government would stop kidnapping people so “young people can live in peace,” but the protest demanding those already taken be released met with swift repression.

Mr Omtatah filed a case at the High Court before attending the protest that sought to force the release of the seven.

“If they have committed a crime, let them be prosecuted and presented in court to defend themselves,” he urged.

The Communist Party of Kenya has accused Mr Ruto’s government of “unrelenting state terror” against a young generation whose “only crime was their bold rejection of neoliberalism and imperialism.”