Chinese restaurant in Kenya shut down after it barred black patrons

A Chinese restaurant in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has been shut down and its owners summoned by authorities after it emerged it was barring black patrons, according to reports yesterday.

The restaurant became the focus of city authorities after furious residents took to social media to denounce an apparently racist policy of not allowing African patrons to eat there after 5pm - pushing #RacistRestaurant, #NoBlacksHere and #TheChineseInvasion to be top trending topics.

The owners of the restaurant said the measure was put in place after a robbery in 2013, and apologised for causing any offence, the Daily Nation reported.

But it said the Chongquing Chinese restaurant, situated in Nairobi's commercial and residential district of Kilimani, had been shut down anyway for not having the proper licences.

"We have established that the restaurant did not have the licences and I have ordered it closed until the management complies," Nairobi governor Evans Kidero said.

"The owners of the restaurant have no change of user from residential to commercial which is a requirement to operate a business in Nairobi," he said, adding the restaurant did not have a valid liquor licence and had failed to comply with public health requirements on food handling.