How the death of a blogger fuelled deadly protests across a nation

27-06-2025

The protests against Ojwang's death in custody coincided with demonstrations already planned in Kenya to mark the first anniversary of an anti-government movement led by youth who call themselves Gen Z.
Those demonstrations a year ago – sparked by opposition to a proposed tax hike and fuelled, in part, by disgust at pervasive police violence – left more than 60 people dead and 20 others missing. Parliament was also stormed.
On Wednesday, a wave of youth-led demonstrations across the country was followed by looting and arson in the capital, Nairobi, and other cities. Kenyan police used live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters.
Rights group Amnesty Kenya said 16 people had been killed – all from gunshot wounds. It was not immediately clear who had shot them, and Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the injuries.
The New York Times reported that at least 400 people were injured in Wednesday's protests – 83 of them seriously, citing an alliance of grassroots organisations.
'Many of us are being killed with no reason,' said Don Cliff Ochieng, 24, a security guard in Nairobi who said that he was protesting because of the lack of economic opportunities and police brutality. 'It is our right to demonstrate.'
On Thursday, after a night of looting and arson left buildings smouldering in central Nairobi, shop owners were cleaning up the charred wreckage.
'Look: everything they burnt. So please government, try talking to the Gen Z. Because this happened [because] of Gen Z. So the Gen Z, try to sit down and talk with the government,' Ibrahim Hamisi, whose building was burnt, said.
Shopkeeper Josephine Apondi said 'thugs' had looted 2 million shillings ($23,500) worth of phones and electronics from her Nairobi shop.
Kenya's Interior Minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, has accused protesters of attempting to enact 'regime change' and said police had been forced to hold back large crowds who sought to approach parliament and State House, the president's residence.
'Criminal anarchists' had 'unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault and destruction upon our people', he said.
But Boniface Mwangi, one of the prominent figures in the protest movement, told Reuters: 'The branding of [the] protests as a coup is the government's attempt to shift attention from the real issue.'

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Ghana chopper crash kills two ministers and six others

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Ghana chopper crash kills two ministers and six others

A helicopter crash in Ghana, has killed eight people including the West African nation's defence and environment ministers, the government says. The military says the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra, toward Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but went off the radar. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser and crew members. State media said the Z-9 helicopter is often used as a utility helicopter often used for transport and medical evacuation. Ghana's government described the crash as a "national tragedy". Wednesday's crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people. In 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people. Like other coastal West African countries, Ghana faces threats from Islamist groups active in the Sahel that have tried to push south from landlocked Burkina Faso and Mali where they stage frequent deadly attacks. With Reuters A helicopter crash in Ghana, has killed eight people including the West African nation's defence and environment ministers, the government says. The military says the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra, toward Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but went off the radar. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser and crew members. State media said the Z-9 helicopter is often used as a utility helicopter often used for transport and medical evacuation. Ghana's government described the crash as a "national tragedy". Wednesday's crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people. In 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people. Like other coastal West African countries, Ghana faces threats from Islamist groups active in the Sahel that have tried to push south from landlocked Burkina Faso and Mali where they stage frequent deadly attacks. With Reuters A helicopter crash in Ghana, has killed eight people including the West African nation's defence and environment ministers, the government says. The military says the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra, toward Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but went off the radar. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser and crew members. State media said the Z-9 helicopter is often used as a utility helicopter often used for transport and medical evacuation. Ghana's government described the crash as a "national tragedy". Wednesday's crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people. In 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people. Like other coastal West African countries, Ghana faces threats from Islamist groups active in the Sahel that have tried to push south from landlocked Burkina Faso and Mali where they stage frequent deadly attacks. With Reuters A helicopter crash in Ghana, has killed eight people including the West African nation's defence and environment ministers, the government says. The military says the helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from the capital, Accra, toward Obuasi, a gold-mining area in the Ashanti region, but went off the radar. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser and crew members. State media said the Z-9 helicopter is often used as a utility helicopter often used for transport and medical evacuation. Ghana's government described the crash as a "national tragedy". Wednesday's crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade. In May 2014, a service helicopter crashed off the coast, killing at least three people. In 2021, a cargo plane overran the runway in Accra and crashed into a bus full of passengers, killing at least 10 people. Like other coastal West African countries, Ghana faces threats from Islamist groups active in the Sahel that have tried to push south from landlocked Burkina Faso and Mali where they stage frequent deadly attacks. With Reuters