MOGADISHU (Kaab TV) – Kaab TV journalist Amiro Sulaiman Ibrahim and Iqro Abdullahi Abdirahman from Five Somali TV were briefly arrested today while covering a local community protest in the Gubta area of Dayniile district, Mogadishu.
The protest, largely led by local women and youth, began on Wednesday morning against alleged land grabbers said to be connected to the Somali government.
Demonstrators chanted slogans opposing what they described as an ongoing land-grabbing scheme.
The two journalists said they were conducting interviews when armed police, led by a woman identified as Jamila, arrived and began harassing them.
According to Amiro, Iqro was physically assaulted by police officers before both journalists were arrested.
“Both of us were taken to the Dayniile police station. They also confiscated our camera equipment and phones,” Amiro told Kaab TV.
Police reportedly opened fire on protesters, killing at least one young man, while several others were injured.
Amiro said she witnessed one man bleeding at the scene after being struck on the head with a heavy object during the police assault. He was also arrested.
Another woman who had given an interview to the journalists was also detained.
The two reporters were released later in the afternoon; however, their equipment was not returned.
Dayniile, located in the northern part of the capital, has seen repeated protests by local communities as alleged land grabbers continue to seize land, often triggering public unrest.
Last week, Mogadishu police chief Mahdi Omar Mumin — a former Al-Shabaab defector now serving in the Somali police — threatened protesters with death if demonstrations continued in the capital.
Scores of journalists were also arrested in the past week while reporting on protests by Mogadishu’s tuk-tuk drivers, who were demonstrating against high fuel prices.