Street children sleep outside a shop along Moi Avenue in Nairobi. [PHOTO/nation.co.ke]
Police in Nairobi have arrested and detained some 500 street children.
According to Nairobi County Police Commander Japhet Koome, the Monday morning crackdown saw the children and a few more young adults placed in different cells in the city.
By Tuesday evening, police had already nabbed 470 minors.
Koome said the crackdown will continue and that those arrested will be screened thoroughly before they are released back to their homes or rehabilitation centres.
“Their numbers have been increasing and they have been mugging and harassing people on the streets,” Koome said.
On Tuesday morning, City Hall workers and police were seen picking up the children from the streets.
They were then taken to Kamukunji and Central police stations as well as other other detention centres.