Gays Attacked In Kenya As Clerics Call For Cleansing Of Homosexuals By Any Mean Necessary

In Kenya, conflicting reports concerning attacks on gays, one report from the AFP saying that police there arrested at least five suspected homosexuals in Mombasa, a coastal city, after hundreds of residents rioted over a planned gay marriage. The five were reportedly invited guests, but residents learned of the ceremony and alerted the authorities. Homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya. The two men who were to allegedly have married fled, likely fearing for the lives, and are now in hiding, according to local district official George Matundura, who said that the five men in custody will be made to “undergo a medical examination before we charge them with homosexuality.” He added that officials “will move swiftly and close down bars which condone gays, lesbians, prostitution and drug abuse in their premises” and that authorities “are grateful to the public for alerting the police. They should continue cooperating with police to arrest more. “

Another report from The Daily Nation, Kenya’s paper of record, suggests that the police saved the lives of three men suspected of being homosexuals, who were set upon by an angry mob of hundreds who aimed to kill. This comes as two clergy members led Operation Gays Out, a mission to rid Kenya of homosexuals. The two, Sheikh Hussein Ali of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and Bishop Laurence Chai, of the National Council of Churches, said that they are prepared to shed blood to “protect the dignity of Mtwapa town and called on residents to rise against the vice.”