Kenya makes 16 arrests after taxi riders attack woman

Kenyan police said Monday they had arrested 16 suspects after a female driver was attacked by a group of motorcycle taxi riders, in an incident that stirred widespread outrage.

A video circulating on social media showed the young woman, partially undressed, screaming at the group from inside the car, whose door had been forced open.

In a statement on Twitter, the police said the woman had been pursued on Friday by a “gang” of motorcycle taxi drivers, apparently after an accident.

“Sixteen suspects have been arrested and five motorcycles impounded,” they said.

“We wish to condemn in the strongest terms all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence,” they said.

A policeman intervened to stop the assault, The Standard newspaper said.

Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said on Twitter, “I am shocked and disgusted by a viral video clip of a female motorist being molested by suspected boda-boda riders along Wangari Maathai /Forest Road.

“We must protect our roads from such vile and reprehensible acts of aggression,” he said.

Motorcycle taxi drivers in Kenya, commonly known as boda-boda, are typically young men.

The riders are notorious for breaching the rules of the road and assaulting drivers after a collision.

In 2019, the drivers were classified as a “threat to national security” by an interior ministry research unit, the local media say.