Kenya restaurant slammed for 'no Africans after dark' policy

A Chinese restaurant owner in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi who refused Africans entry after 5pm has been arrested.

The establishment – creatively named Chinese Restaurant – reportedly introduced the policy following a robbery by armed gunmen last year.

Reporters from the Daily Nation, Kenya's biggest newspaper, were recently refused entry and told by a guard that only taxi drivers and Africans accompanied by Chinese, European or Indian patrons were allowed into the compound after sunset.

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"We don't admit Africans that we don't know because you never know who is Al-Shabaab and who isn't," said Esther Zhao, the restaurant's relations manager. "It is not like it is written on somebody's face that they are a thug armed with a gun."

She added that the Chinese people who stay there or come to dine "want to feel safe".

The management claimed it was willing to waive the rule for "loyal" African patrons, defined as those who spent at least Sh20,000 (£146) at the restaurant over a specified period. However, other members of staff, speaking anonymously, told the newspaper that it was very rare that any Africans were allowed into the restaurant after 5pm.

"It is strictly a no-African policy and we have even had to turn away some prominent Kenyans who were obviously not a security threat," said one worker.

Otiende Amollo, chair of Kenya's Commission on Administrative Justice, said the case amounted to "racial and ethnic profiling", which is unconstitutional and illegal.

"It has in it the inherent assumption that Africans are inevitably predisposed to be robbers," he said.

Amollo warned that his commission was able to put pressure on the county government to revoke the licences of a private company accused of discrimination. But just hours after the article was published, causing outcry on social media, the owner of the restaurant was arrested, reports The Guardian.

Zhao Yang was charged for operating the restaurant without a valid licence and faces a prison term of 18 months or a fine of more than £670 if found guilty.