NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya’s capital hurled tear gas canisters Tuesday at hundreds of protesters angry about gender-based violence and femicide, or the killing of women, and arrested an unknown number of people.
Protesters chanting “Stop femicide” were dispersed by police in a public park in Nairobi where they had gathered and later engaged in running battles along the streets. Several protesters were injured in the confrontation Tuesday.
Click to Gallery
Protesters run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Demonstrators chant during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Demonstrators run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya anti-riot police arrest a protester during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Protesters chant during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A woman runs from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Protesters run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A woman shouts as Kenya anti riot police arrest her during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A protester shouts as she holds a placard during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
One activist, Mwikali Mueni, told The Associated Press that she suffered a neck injury from uniformed police officers and was heading to the hospital.
“It is very sad that I was injured while championing for women not to be injured or killed. If the president is serious about ending femicide, let him start by taking action on the officers who have brutalized us today,” she said.
Kenya has a silent epidemic of gender-based violence. Police said in October that 97 women had been killed since August, most of them by their male partners.
Last month, President William Ruto committed more than $700,000 for a campaign to end femicide after meeting with elected female leaders.
A U.N. report released in November to mark the start of a separate 16-day global campaign said that Africa recorded the highest rate of partner-related femicide in 2023.
There has been a series of anti-femicide protests in Kenya and on Nov. 25 during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, police used tear gas to disperse a handful of protesters who had braved the bad weather.
Kenya was among several African countries elected to the U.N. human rights council on Oct. 9.
The police crackdown on protesters on Tuesday during Human Rights Day has been criticized by activists.
“Why are we being beaten and tear-gassed, yet we are peaceful? We will keep coming to the streets till the day women will stop being slaughtered like animals,” activist Mariam Chande told journalists.
Activists questioned how law enforcement agencies have handled femicide cases, protesting the escape from police cells of a suspect who confessed to killing 42 women after dismembered bodies were found stuffed in plastic sacks and dumped in a flooded quarry.
Protesters run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Demonstrators chant during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Demonstrators run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya anti-riot police arrest a protester during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Protesters chant during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A woman runs from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Protesters run from a cloud of tear gas fired by anti-riot police during the march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A woman shouts as Kenya anti riot police arrest her during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A protester shouts as she holds a placard during a march against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Wednesday she's suing a Saudi Arabian agribusiness for allegedly violating a public nuisance law, contending that its groundwater pumping threatens the public health, safety and infrastructure of local communities in a rural western county.
The complaint filed in Maricopa County Superior Court alleges that the pumping at a Fondomonte Arizona, LLC. alfalfa farm has had widespread effects in the Ranegras Plain Basin of La Paz County, harming everyone who depends on basin water by drawing down supplies, drying up wells and causing the ground to crack and sink in some areas.
The lawsuit is the latest action by Arizona against foreign companies that use huge amounts of groundwater to grow thirsty forage crops for export because of climate challenges in other countries. Rural Arizona is especially attractive to international businesses because it has no groundwater pumping regulations.
The lawsuit alleges that since 2014, Fondomonte has extracted huge amounts of water that accelerated depletion of the basin’s aquifer. The company is a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almarai Co.
“We find the allegations of the Attorney General totally unfounded, and we will defend any potential action against Fondomonte and our rights vigorously before the competent authorities,” Fondomonte said in a statement Wednesday.
“The company has invested significantly to bring the latest conservation technology and applies environmentally sustainable practices on these long-established farms,” it said. “Fondomonte has continued to develop responsibly during its time farming in the state and the company complies with all state regulations. ”
Years of drought have increased pressure on water users across the West, particularly in states like Arizona, which relies heavily on the dwindling Colorado River. The drought has also made groundwater — long used by farmers and rural residents without restriction — even more important for users across the state.
“Protection of Arizona’s precious groundwater is certainly important, but this lawsuit could open a can of worms,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. “Nearly every farm, city, mine, tribe, and power company in the state relies on groundwater.”
Water attorneys said they did not feel qualified to address the legal theory of public nuisance but emphasized the lack of regulation of groundwater pumping in rural Arizona.
Kathleen Ferris, an attorney and Arizona water policy expert who directed the study that led to the current law overseeing the state’s groundwater management, said rural groundwater use in the state “is “governed by the rule of reasonable use.”
“Anyone may drill a well and pump groundwater as long as the use of the groundwater is reasonable,” said Ferris, a senior research fellow at the Kyl Center. “Unfortunately, no use of groundwater has been determined by the courts to be ‘unreasonable.’ It’s basically a rule that benefits the biggest landowners with the deepest wells.’”
Mayes told reporters Wednesday that the Arizona Legislature has done nothing to fix the groundwater problem despite knowing about the problem for years.
“While laws regulating groundwater pumping could have prevented this situation, the legislature’s inaction has allowed the crisis to grow,” Mayes said. “When the legislature fails to protect our most basic resources, the attorney general must step in.”
La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin, a Republican, commended Mayes, a Democrat, for attempting to address what she described as her community’s “most challenging” concern.
“I know that my constituents will be thrilled over this, that somebody is actually paying attention to the real problems here,” Irwin said during Wednesday’s news briefing via a video conference call.
Mayes' lawsuit alleges that Fondomonte's actions are a public nuisance under a state statute that prohibits activity that injures health, obstructs property use, or interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by a community.
Mayes called the company’s groundwater pumping “unsustainable” and said it caused “devastating consequences” for people in the area.
“Arizona law is clear: no company has the right to endanger an entire community’s health and safety for its own gain,” she said.
The lawsuit seeks to enjoin the company from further groundwater pumping it says is “excessive” and require that an abatement fund be established to cover the costs of damages caused by the company.
Mayes said the dollar figure hasn't been determined but it will be established through the course of litigation.
Arizona officials have been targeting Fondomonte for more than a year over its use of groundwater to grow forage crops, by not renewing or canceling the company's leases in Butler Valley in western Arizona. Some residents there had complained that the company’s pumping was threatening their wells.
Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announces she's suing a Saudi Arabian company for allegedly pumping groundwater that harms local communities in a rural western county, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Gabriel Sandoval)
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announces she's suing a Saudi Arabian company for allegedly pumping groundwater that harms local communities in a rural western county, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Gabriel Sandoval)
FILE - This image shows an Almarai logo in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
FILE - La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin speaks with The Associated Press, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, in Wenden, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Cut rows of alfalfa, waiting to be raked and baled, lie to the left as a windrower cuts an alfalfa field Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in the Gila Valley, Ariz. (Randy Hoeft/The Yuma Sun via AP)
