Ambulances drive to hospitals such as Kenyatta National Hospital, where victims are treated for injuries due to tear gas, rubber cogets and blows with arm poles. The police already used tear gas around ten in the morning to vary protesters. Water cannons followed shortly thereafter. The situation remains extremely tense.
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Popular movement
What started as a resistance to the controversial finance Bills from 2024 and 2025 has grown into a popular movement against police violence and impunity. The commemoration of last year’s youth protests, in which at least sixty people died again today brought thousands of young people to more than twenty cities. The demonstrations started at 9 o’clock in the morning and initially went peacefully, with candles, photos of victims and speeches. But soon the atmosphere turned.
In Nairobi, tear gas grenades bounced as glowing metal balls over the asphalt, after which they spit out sissingly thick clouds of smoke. “They want to break us, but we are not afraid,” cried a demonstrator, bracing himself against the power of a water jet.
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According to The Standard and Pulse Live Kenya No fatalities were reported until the afternoon, but the number of injured people is quickly rising. In some cases it is about head and breast injury.
Armed gangs
At the same time, the worries increase about the presence of armed gangs that seem to infiltrate the protests. In Nairobi and Kisumu today men have been spotted with sticks, machetes and helmets, which are between demonstrators and use violence. Previous reports of Kenya Insights and The Star Already on the use of paid fight teams during protests on 17 June.
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Ban
At 1 p.m. the Communication Authority of Kenya issued a ban on live broadcasts from the protests. Citizen TV and KTN nevertheless refused to stop their reporting, but refused. “What laws did we violate?” Zubeidah Kananu, chairman of the Kenya Editors’ Guild, asked himself in a broadcast on KTN. “We inform people without having them. This prohibition is contrary to the Constitution.”
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Nevertheless, images of the protests continued to circulate en masse via social media. Tiktok became the nerve center of citizen journalism. Young people streamed live from the front lines, with smartphone and power bank. “We are our own media,” said 19-year-old Tiktokker Amani Wambua. “We are not going to sit still and watch. We are fighting for our Kenya ..”
Tear gas
Another popular live stream, Mambo Ni Liveattracted more than 15,000 viewers. One of the clips shows how a young woman, standing in a cloud of tear gas at the Archives building in Nairobi, recites the preamble of the Kenyan Constitution. “Tiktok has become our diary,” wrote a user. “Here we keep our anger, our hope and our truth.” Hashtags as #Rutomustgo The platform dominated.
The protests are no longer aimed at tax legislation, but on a deep -rooted sense of injustice. The anger focuses on police violence, corruption, infiltration and the absence of justice. While the government is calling for calmness, international concern about escalating violence and the restriction of freedom of press is growing.