Nairobi is locked down as Kenyan police clash with protesters and 10 are killed
Protesters lit bonfires and threw stones at police. Police fired and hurled tear gas canisters, injuring demonstrators. Young men carried another man, his shirt drenched in blood, saying he had been shot. The protests were reported in 17 of 47 counties.
Kenyan youth and others for weeks have been protesting police brutality and poor governance while demanding President William Ruto's resignation over alleged corruption and the high cost of living.
July 7, known as Saba Saba, is a significant date in Kenya's history, marking the first major protests 35 years ago that called on then-President Daniel arap Moi — Ruto's mentor — for a transition from a one-party state to a multiparty democracy, which was realized in the 1992 elections. Saba Saba is Swahili for Seven Seven.
Police officers on Monday stopped private and public vehicles from accessing Nairobi's city center. They also blocked most pedestrians from entering the capital, only allowing those deemed to have essential duties. Roads leading to parliament — stormed in a protest last year — and the president's office were barricaded using razor wire.
'There is no reversing the Gen Z Saba Saba-like spirit,' said Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at United States International University Africa in Nairobi. 'Attempt to criminalize protests is reactive and will not work. It instead makes the government appear retrogressive and desperate enough to subvert the constitution.'
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on Sunday that the government would not tolerate violent protests and police would be deployed to ensure public safety. Last month, Murkomen told police to 'shoot on sight' anyone who approaches police stations during protests after several had been burned.
Public Service Minister Geoffrey Ruku had urged all government employees to report to work on Monday, insisting that the demonstrations would not disrupt public services.
In Kitengela town in Nairobi's outskirts, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who had lit bonfires on the road that connects to neighboring Tanzania.
'They have blocked the roads, blocking us from our work. I am a roadside vendor and I am supposed to get to town and buy merchandise to sell along the road,' said protester Caleb Okoth. 'What do they want us to eat? People are being beaten like dogs for protesting for their rights.'
Kenya's latest wave of violent demonstrations was sparked by calls for police accountability following the death of a blogger in police custody last month. During protests on June 17, a police officer shot a civilian at close range, further angering the public.
On June 25, at least 19 people were killed and more than 400 injured during protests against police brutality that were timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of anti-tax protests where parliament was stormed and over 60 people lost their lives.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump set to join prestigious presidential roadway honor roll near his beloved Florida estate
A stretch of Florida roadway leading to Mar-a-Lago could soon be renamed in honor of President Donald Trump – the latest effort by many lawmakers throughout the country to memorialize the current commander-in-chief. Palm Beach County commissioners this week unanimously approved a measure to rename Southern Boulevard 'President Donald J. Trump Boulevard,' according to The Associated Press (AP). The east-west roadway leads to Trump's home in Palm Beach. It's the route Trump's motorcade takes when he travels to and from his Mar-a-Lago estate and Palm Beach International Airport. Trump supporters frequently line Southern Boulevard to greet the president during his trips home from Washington. But it wouldn't be the first boulevard in Palm Beach County to be named after a Republican president. A street in Delray Beach – about 20 miles south of Mar-a-Lago – was renamed George Bush Boulevard in honor of former President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s. 6 Supporters wave at President-elect Donald Trump's motorcade as it passes along Southern Boulevard on Bingham Island as it returns to Trump's Mar-a-lago Club on December 03, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. Getty Images Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has two Palm Beach County roadways named after him. Riviera Beach, about 12 miles north of Palm Beach, renamed a roadway President Barack Obama Highway in 2015, two years after the city of Pahokee – in the western reaches of Palm Beach County near Lake Okeechobee – changed the name of a street to Barack Obama Boulevard. 6 Elon Musk and President Donald Trump hold a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on Friday, May 30, 2025. Francis Chung/UPI/Shutterstock The Federal Highway Administration told Fox News Digital it does not have a directory or database of federal roadways named after U.S. presidents. But the U.S. Census Bureau released a list of the most popular street names in 1993. It revealed that George Washington, the nation's first commander-in-chief, leads all presidents with the most roadways named after him. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, is second on the list, followed by Andrew Jackson, the nation's 7th president. 6 Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865), the 16th President of the United States of America. Getty Images The fourth-most common street surname is Johnson – in honor of Andrew Johnson (17th president) and/or Lyndon B. Johnson (36th president). Others on the list include Thomas Jefferson (3rd president), Woodrow Wilson (28th), Adams (in honor of John Adams, 2nd president, or son John Quincy Adams, 6th president), Zachary Taylor (12th) and James Madison (4th). Roadways of modern presidents represented in many major U.S. cities include John F. Kennedy (35th), Ronald Reagan (40th) and Barack Obama (44th). 6 Former US President Barack Obama speaks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 20, 2024. AFP via Getty Images Reagan has parkways (in Georgia and Indiana), a highway (in Ohio) and a freeway (in California) named after him. There's also the Ronald Reagan Trail in Illinois, Ronald Reagan Boulevard in Texas and the Ronald Reagan Turnpike in Florida. Obama has had several avenues (in Florida, Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio) and boulevards (in California, Florida, Georgia and Missouri) named after him. 6 American president Ronald Reagan makes an announcement from his desk at the White House, Washington DC. Getty Images Kennedy has an expressway in Chicago, a boulevard in Philadelphia and a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In downtown Minneapolis, a sequence of streets is named after presidents, going west to east in chronological order. Elsewhere in the country, nearly two dozen miles of a U.S. highway in Oklahoma were renamed for Trump in 2021, while states like Arizona and Kentucky have proposed similar legislation. 6 US President Donald Trump during a bilateral meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, April 7, 2025. Bloomberg via Getty Images Trump also has an avenue named after him in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami. Under Florida law, if a 'bridge or road segment being designated is located in more than one city or county, resolutions supporting the designation must be passed by each affected local government prior to the erection of the markers.' Since Southern Boulevard passes through West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, those municipalities must still approve such measures.
Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz' after being blocked
OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida's new Everglades immigration detention center after a state-arranged visit Saturday, describing a crowded, unsanitary and bug-infested facility that officials have dubbed ' Alligator Alcatraz.' A Republican on the same tour said he saw nothing of the sort. The tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups to view the facility. 'There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down,' Rep. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, told reporters after visiting. 'This place is a stunt, and they're abusing human beings here.' Cage-style units of 32 men share three combination toilet-sink devices, the visitors measured the temperature at 83 degrees (28 degrees Celsius) in one area that was billed as air-conditioned and grasshoppers and other insects abound, she and other Democrats said. Although the visitors said they weren't able to speak with the detainees, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat from Florida, said one called out 'I'm an American!' and others chanting, 'Libertad!,' a Spanish word for 'freedom.' State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Florida, countered that he had seen a well-run, safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well. He recalled that a handful of detainees became 'a little raucous' when the visitors appeared but said he didn't make out what they were saying. 'The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,' he said by phone. 'It's a detention center, not the Four Seasons.' Journalists weren't allowed on the tour, and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside. Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which built the facility, and to representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia's upbeat readouts on social media. DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center — an agglomeration of tents, trailers and temporary buildings constructed in a matter of days — as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump's call for mass deportations. The first detainees arrived July 3 , after Trump toured and praised the facility. Described as temporary, the detention center is meant to help the Republican president's administration reach its goal of boosting the United States' migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000. The Florida facility's remote location and its name — a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California — are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration. Ahead of the facility's opening, state officials said detainees would have access to medical care, consistent air conditioning, a recreation yard, attorneys and clergy members. But detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks, and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat. One man told his wife that detainees go days without getting showers. Florida Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions 'completely false,' saying detainees always get three meals a day, unlimited drinking water, showers and other necessities. 'The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,' she said. Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site when it opened July 3 but said they were denied access. The state subsequently arranged Saturday's tour. The lawmakers have sued over the denial, saying that DeSantis' administration is impeding lawmakers' oversight authority. A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit 'dumb.' As Democratic officials headed into the facility, they said they expected to be given a sanitized and limited view. Wasserman Schultz told reporters the lawmakers came anyway because they wanted to ask questions and get a sense of the structure and conditions. ____ Peltz reported from New York, and Rodriguez reported from Ochopee. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Ocasio-Cortez slammed over ‘defamatory' Trump, Jeffrey Epstein post: ‘Sue AOC into bankruptcy'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was ripped on social media after she called President Trump 'a rapist' online — with many suggesting a tweet from the Congresswoman was grounds for a defamation lawsuit from the commander in chief. Ocasio-Cortez sparked outrage when she tweeted Friday about Trump and the release of files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 'Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, apparently referring to Trump and the 2023 civil trial where he was found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. 3 Ocasio-Cortez appeared to suggest Trump was a 'rapist' in a social media post on Friday. AP Advertisement Trump, however, was not found liable of rape in the case — a distinction the congresswoman failed to make — leading many on social media to encourage the president to sue the self-described 'Bronx girl.' 'Even under the ridiculously lenient standards of NY Times v. Sullivan, you've managed to incur defamation liability. Wow,' Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on X, referring to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court libel case. 'George Stephanopoulos might advise you to take down this tweet,' another person tweeted. Advertisement Stephanopoulos and ABC were sued by Trump last year after the 'This Week' host similarly asserted that Trump had been 'found liable for rape,' during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). In December, ABC and Stephanopoulos agreed to pay Trump's presidential library foundation $15 million and an additional $1 million in legal expenses as part of a settlement, and the network publicly apologized for the error. 'This is defamatory,' Trump ally Laura Loomer said of Ocasio-Cortez's tweet. 'And I hope you are sued by Trump for this the same way George Stephanopoulos was sued and forced to pay Trump $15 million dollars.' 'The President should sue AOC into bankruptcy,' legal analyst Phil Holloway similarly argued. Advertisement 'I realize she's trying to raise her profile but this is way way too far,' Holloway tweeted. 3 Trump previously sued ABC when George Stephanopoulos asserted Trump had been found liable for rape. RUT / 3 AOC suggested that Trump's legal troubles with Carroll is why more files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case haven't been released. AP The White House declined to say if the president was considering legal action. Advertisement 'AOC likes to play pretend like she's from the block, but in reality she's just a sad, miserable blockhead who is trying to over-compensate for her lack of self-confidence that has followed her for her entire life,' White House communication director Steven Cheung said in a statement. 'Instead, she should get some serious help for her obvious and severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted her pea-sized brain,' he added.
