Protests in Nairobi over insecurity in northern Kenya

Demonstrations after Al-Shabab kills 28 non-Muslims in Kenya

Protests have been taking place in Nairobi on 25 November over rising insecurity in the northern Kenyan region near the border with Somalia.

The demonstration outside Harambee House, the office of the Kenyan president, has been organised by a group under the banner #OccupyHarambeeHouse. Protestors are calling for reshuffles in Kenya's interior ministry, increased security in the Kenya-Somalia border region and better monetary terms for the country's police.

The protests follow the deaths of 28 people killed by Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels al-Shabab near Mandera in north-east Kenya on 22 November. The incident took place after militants attacked a Nairobi-bound bus, identified 29 passengers who were unable to say the Shahada – a tenet of the Muslim faith – and shot them at close range.

The militants lined the passengers on the ground before killing 19 men and 19 women. However, in the confusion, one of the 29 survived after the gunmen believed he had already been shot. The man lay perfectly still until the 20 miltants left the scene before making his escape 50 km away to the north-eastern town of Mandera, near Kenya's borders with Ethiopia and Somalia.

Later on 22 November, Kenya's military responded to the bus attack by sending fighter jets to bomb Somalian camps run by the insurgents. The Kenyan army claimed it killed over 100 al-Shabaab rebels in the air strikes.

Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qa'ida and was responsible for the Westgate attack in September 2013, said the bus attack was in retaliation for recent raids by Kenyan security forces on four mosques in the coastal city of Mombasa.

The victims of the bus attack included 17 teachers, prompting the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to instruct its members who are not residents but based in Mandera and other unsafe areas in the northern region, to relocate to their home counties.

The attack was condemned by the United States and the United Nations, and the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU would continue to work with the Kenyan government to remove the threat of al-Shabaab from Kenya.