An unknown number of journalists working at the China Global Television Network, CGTN headquarters in Nairobi have been arrested.
Police raided the premises Wednesday afternoon in an ongoing crackdown against illegal immigrants.
In a video shared by NTV on Twitter, journalists at the station claimed that the police stormed their workplace in the name of verifying their immigration documents.
Veteran journalist Saddique Shaban confronted the police for storming CGTN headquarters and he was briefly arrested and later released.
He took to Twitter posting “Armed Police officers, about a dozen, with automatic weapons, have raided the China Global Television Network Africa HQ in Nairobi, rounding up staff members and demanding identity/alien cards and work permits from mostly expatriates working here. They did not ID themselves.”
In a separate tweet, he condemned the manner in which the police executed the order to crack down on workers at CGTN who could be in the country illegally.
"Whilst government agencies have a right to conduct their business, but the manner in which they stormed CGTN Africa HQ is despicable, unprofessional and dangerous. Several Chinese Staff members are currently unaccounted for after being violently arrested and taken away by police," read another of his tweets.
Interior CS Fred Matiangi has warned that the government will not relent in its fight against weeding out illegal immigrants or foreigners working in Kenya without regularised work permits.