Mounting anger over police brutality and state mismanagement boiled over in Kenya on Wednesday, as thousands of protesters flooded the streets in 23 of the country’s 47 counties. What began as a call for reform turned into a national cry for President William Ruto’s resignation, leaving 16 people dead, double the earlier toll, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
The demonstrations, largely youth-led and coordinated via social media, coincided with the first anniversary of last year’s deadly anti-tax protests, when over 60 people were killed and 20 remain unaccounted for. This year’s unrest was sparked by the custodial death of a blogger and intensified after police allegedly shot a protester during vigils held in his honor.
By Thursday, damage from the unrest was visible in several parts of the capital, Nairobi. Business owners surveyed charred storefronts and ransacked shops. In one smoldering building downtown, a phone vendor told reporters she had lost merchandise worth 800,000 Kenyan shillings (around $6,000).
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Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen visited some of the affected areas and vowed that those who looted would be tracked using CCTV footage.
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“He said police would follow up with owners whose CCTV cameras captured the looters to ensure swift arrests.”
Despite growing outrage over police violence, Murkomen defended law enforcement’s response.
“There is no police officer who committed any excess yesterday, they foiled a coup and they deserve our defense,” he stated. “Police don’t carry guns as toys.”
In several areas, the protests turned chaotic. At least two police stations were set ablaze. Protesters erected barricades, burned tires, and hurled stones at officers in riot gear. Security forces retaliated with tear gas and live ammunition.
Outside Nairobi’s city mortuary, families began identifying loved ones lost in the chaos. Among them was Fatma Opango, searching for her 17-year-old nephew, AP indicated in a report.
“I came across his photo in a group online and I started searching for him at the hospitals hoping he had survived,” she told local journalists, her voice heavy with grief.
In the city center, Parliament and the president’s office were cordoned off with razor wire, with all access roads sealed off as protesters attempted to approach the government buildings.
