SEVENTEEN Kenyan communist activists will appear in court in the Nairobi district court today after being arrested while planning an anti-government protest.

The Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) members were detained on Wednesday as party activists prepared for the Unlock Democracy demonstration against the government’s “disastrous and anti-scientific” approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to party sources, police raided the CPK offices without a warrant and tried to enter a secure room where documents and crucial records are held.

International organisation Black Hammer offered support and solidarity, describing the activists’ arrests and persecution as “an obvious reaction to the mass support the Communist Party of Kenya is receiving by the poor working masses.”

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) called for a deepening of working-class unity and said that “anti-communist and anti-working class agenda is rife among many elite African leaders and is set to deepen as the revolutionary movement of the masses continues to grow.

“Many African leaders continue to dutifully play their puppet roles with distinction in the benefit of imperialism, a permanent enemy of the African peoples,” the CPS added.