Kenyan bloggers condemn attack on press freedom. · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Last Thursday the Standard  media Group of Kenya was raided by Government forces and shut down. Kenya Television Network (KTN) was  taken off the air, the printing plants closed down and newspapers burned. Kenyan bloggers have been united in their condemnation of the attack on Kenya's media and freedom of press.
MentalAcrobatics published a CCTV video footage of the raid and comments.
These pictures are very disturbing. In some of them they have an employee spread eagled on the floor with a gun pressed against his/her head and a boot in his/her face. Remember these are NOT criminals being man handled like this. These are Kenyan men and women who went to work only to be pistol whipped and roughed up by an elite police squad.
For a broader picture of reactions he  publishes  an extensive  roundup of Kenyan blogger's comments on the  raid.
The raid stirred Kenyans to raise their voices in protest in the streets of Nairobi. The same reaction was seen from Kenyans online as Kenyan bloggers decided to speak out. A large part of the online protest was based around Keguro‘s appeal that we all post a letter to the president on our blogs.
Gukira writes a letter to President Kibaki and asks other Kenyan bloggers to publish the letter on their blogs.
This latest attack follows the jailing of three journalists from Standard Newspaper, attacks on Citizen Weekly, and ongoing harassment of journalists by government-sponsored forces.
Kenyan Pundit  asks
I mean what the hell is this all about? I’m totally perplexed. Doesn’t this “crack sqaud” have better things to do, for instance like solve real crimes? Wasn’t the Kalonzo story among one of the more innocuous one’s published by the Standard? It would have totally gone under the radar if the government hadn’t reacted to it…I really fail to see what is causing this reaction
Feminist African Sister,  is left with a  “chill which gets chillier the more she reads” and comments
This Government ceased representing many of my interests a while back.
When they had Ministers making derogatory analogies of women!
They lost me even more when allegations of corruption at the highest levels was met with open arrogance on the part of Kiraitu, Mwiraria and Moody Awori.
They lost me when they put Maina Kamanda (a well documented misogynist) as Minister for Gender!
When they made tokenist offers of a Gender Commission, a Gender Ministry with a close to zero budget, while they gorge on Merceedes Benzes, mansions, trips abroad etc. etc.
They lost me when images of their thuggish ways were juxtaposed in my mind, with those of a little emaciated Kenyan boy in Wajir whose last dying breathes were captured on ITV news sometime this week in Wajir!
For Thinkers Room the raids are “Enough!
Kenyans are still trying in vain to come to grips on the blatant assault on their right to expression, and therefore blatant assault on them. The response from the government exemplifies the Kibaki regime — disjointed and confused. Some members of the cabinet express ignorance while others express scorn and disdain.
What an African Women Thinks wonders if the government meets regularly to discuss “how to stoop to new lows and how best to incur the wrath of the people.”
You Missed This comments that even under “Moi's and Kenyatta's darkest hours this never happened” and asks who ordered the raid? which he answers
The whole operation to invade the Standard group was hatched by Internal Security Minister John Michuki (of the now famous rattle snake comment), CID Director Joseph Kamau and President Kibaki’s special advisor (on political strategy) Stanley Murage