Alchemist bar is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons after bouncers were caught on camera manhandling a woman.
Videos which went viral on social media show a woman being dragged on the ground at the entrance as other revellers watched in horror.
A tweep by the name Mwikali (@mwikaliiii) who recorded the video on Saturday night June 25 said the bouncers also roughed her up demanding that she deletes the footage.
When you see how these Alchemist bouncers manhandled this woman last night you understand why we need to #ShutDownAlchemist pic.twitter.com/C1OfX3lyn8— Mwikali. (@mwikaliiii) June 26, 2022
"When you see how these Alchemist bouncers manhandled this woman last night you understand why we need to #ShutDownAlchemist. I don’t know what the altercation was about, but you can see the bouncers trying to physically restrain the woman, dragging her, attempting to carry her, and finally leaving her.
There’s no reason that would justify treating someone like that, especially because I highly doubt a similar thing would have happened had she been a man or white.
"However, the bouncers didn’t stop there. At the end of the video, you can see some people realizing that I’ve been filming. In the moments after, two bouncers came upstairs and demanded that I delete the video. I refused and I asked if I could leave but they stood in front of me, and one of them tried to grab my arm. I told them not to touch me and that I wanted to leave. They stood in front of me and said they would get the manager first.
"When the manager arrived, he asked what had happened. I explained the situation and he said I didn’t have to delete the video but he would check with what was going on downstairs and let me know.
Having just witnessed the violence they committed against that young woman, their attempt to detain, intimidate, and censor me, made me scared for my well-being. What chance did I stand against these huge menacing men that so readily brandished their physical strength?
"I fully believe that they talked to me and treated me in the way that they did for the same reasons they felt at liberty to treat that young woman the way they did, we were both Black, Kenyan, women.
"It seems Alchemist and the employees it has emboldened have become all too accustomed to being on the wrong side of history and have learnt nothing from the recent allegations of racism and segregation.
I share this to not only stand up for myself but to also highlight a blatant disregard for human life and human dignity. The alchemist had their chance to reform and less than a month later, they're still perpetuating violence upon their fellow Kenyans.
For those of you who are upset I was there, I understand the criticism and I think it is fair. But for every insult, tweet, question, that y'all have presented here, keep that same energy for the Alchemist Bar.
"We can agree that I shouldn't have been there but I hope that we can also agree that no establishment should be able to display this level of violence and attempt to cover it up," Mwikali narrated.
Racism at Alchemist
The recent development comes just weeks after Nairobi governor Anne Kananu suspended operations at Alchemist to pave way for investigations into racial segregation allegations.
The bar came under heavy criticism from Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) after claims of discriminating against its black customers.
A video that went viral on social media showed the security team at the joint forcing black people to queue in a different line from white and Indian revellers.
The incident allegedly took place on the night of May 20, 2022.
