Police raid CGTN Africa, arrest foreign staff over work permits

[Realtalk108]

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/201...rest-foreign-staff-over-work-permits_c1813974

"...Plainclothes officers stormed the offices around 1 pm on Wednesday in an operation believed to be targeting illegal immigrants without work permits.

The company said police arrested 13 workers, eight are from CGTN.

They were, however, released after verification of their documents...."

In a surprise development, Kenyan police force raided the CGTN Africa headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday. CGTN (China global television network) is the international branch of China's public broadcaster CCTV. The purpose of the raid was to nab foreigners working without valid work permit.

However the raid didn't deliver any result as all of the workers detained on the spot were able to produce their permits later.

There is significant domestic resentment in Kenya and other African countries against foreign nationals working there, including, but not limited to, Chinese people. Occasionally it spills over into xenophobia.

The timing of this incident is also important. At the exact time when the raid was going on, Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta was in China, attending the China-Africa summit. China declared a potential $60 billion of investment and aid for Africa in this summit. And Kenya is one of the largest recipient of Chinese investments in recent years, with quite a few large projects underway.

Moreover, this raid wasn't against an ordinary private business run by someone from China. CGTN is a Chinese government institution. It remains to be seen how this affects China-Kenya relations.

 

[lcloo]

Foolish action by the police. Wrong time and wrong place. They should have check first if the TV station workers have work permit or not with their immigration dept.

Their president must be feeling very embarrassed facing his Chinese host and other African leaders attending the 2018 China- African Cooperation Forum in Beijing.

 

[Figaro]

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/201...rest-foreign-staff-over-work-permits_c1813974

"...Plainclothes officers stormed the offices around 1 pm on Wednesday in an operation believed to be targeting illegal immigrants without work permits.

The company said police arrested 13 workers, eight are from CGTN.

They were, however, released after verification of their documents...."

In a surprise development, Kenyan police force raided the CGTN Africa headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday. CGTN (China global television network) is the international branch of China's public broadcaster CCTV. The purpose of the raid was to nab foreigners working without valid work permit.

However the raid didn't deliver any result as all of the workers detained on the spot were able to produce their permits later.

There is significant domestic resentment in Kenya and other African countries against foreign nationals working there, including, but not limited to, Chinese people. Occasionally it spills over into xenophobia.

The timing of this incident is also important. At the exact time when the raid was going on, Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta was in China, attending the China-Africa summit. China declared a potential $60 billion of investment and aid for Africa in this summit. And Kenya is one of the largest recipient of Chinese investments in recent years, with quite a few large projects underway.

Moreover, this raid wasn't against an ordinary private business run by someone from China. CGTN is a Chinese government institution. It remains to be seen how this affects China-Kenya relations.

Foolish action by the police. Wrong time and wrong place. They should have check first if the TV station workers have work permit or not with their immigration dept.

Their president must be feeling very embarrassed facing his Chinese host and other African leaders attending the 2018 China- African Cooperation Forum in Beijing.

If you are asking China for monetary assistance, I'd assume raiding and arresting Chinese nations with such audacity is probably not the way to go.

 

[Jlaw]

If you are asking China for monetary assistance, I'd assume raiding and arresting Chinese nations with such audacity is probably not the way to go.

Not true. CCP is all greed.

 

[jaybird]

Sometimes we think the president of the country controls everything and forgetting there are always powerful oppositions within the same country that have different interest to the president. China might be friendly to president Uhurubut of Kenya but not everyone is on the same team. I bet there will be hell to pay once the president is back in the country after getting embarrassed like that especially with the timing of the raid.

It's probably a signal or message by the oppositions to let outsiders know the president is not that in control of the country. And the president have to do something to reassure who is the boss of the country soon. The raid of the CGTN Africa headquarters in Nairobi is not really the real target but just an incident used to humiliate the Kenya president Uhurubut. Most likely the result of power struggle between the interest groups of Kenya. Because no matter who is the president there, they still need China.

 

[LASER1]

Well, that's a nice shot of Karma.

 

[Realtalk108]

I bet there will be hell to pay once the president is back in the country after getting embarrassed like that especially with the timing of the raid.

Looks like Kenyan police has apologized.

"...The Kenyan side apologized to China for its improper law enforcement behavior and promised to strengthen management of its grassroots police officers as well as law enforcement norms and etiquette to avoid a recurrence of such an incident...."

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1592800.shtml