NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 25 \u2013 A police officer was seriously injured in Nairobi\u2019s Central Business District (CBD) on Wednesday during tense confrontations between police and demonstrators marking the first anniversary of the Gen Z-led June 25, 2024, protests.<\/p>\n
The female officer, part of a contingent deployed to monitor the commemoration protests, sustained a severe head injury under unclear circumstances along Banda Satreet where chaos had broken out.<\/p>\n
In a rare act of solidarity, protestors swiftly came to her aid, lifting her into a nearby St. John Ambulance even as clouds of tear gas choked the streets and chants for justice echoed through the city.<\/p>\n
Among those who helped the injured officer was Hussein Khalid, CEO of the human rights organisation Vocal Africa, who said the incident underscored the human toll of the day\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re unsure whether it was a tear gas canister or a stone that hit her, but what matters is that protestors stepped in to save her life,\u201d Khalid said.<\/p>\n
The confrontation erupted as demonstrators took to the streets in honour of over 60 Kenyans who lost their lives during the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests that saw Parliament dramatically stormed a moment now etched in Kenya\u2019s political memory.<\/p>\n
Despite calls for peaceful processions, parts of the CBD descended into chaos, with running battles between protestors and anti-riot police. <\/p>\n
Tear gas canisters were fired indiscriminately, and some roads turned into flashpoints.<\/p>\n
Similar scenes played out in Kitengela and on sections of the Thika Superhighway, where protestors clashed with officers, blocked roads, and hurled stones.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the country, the mood varied. In Kisii and Nyeri, protestors lit bonfires and burned tyres, while Mombasa witnessed peaceful demonstrations with police escorting the crowds in a rare show of coordination.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s protests were not just a commemoration, they were a renewed cry for justice, accountability, and an end to police brutality. <\/p>\n
A year since the bloodshed of 2024, no officer has been held accountable for the deaths, a fact that continues to enrage Gen Z demonstrators and human rights activists.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 25 \u2013 A police officer was seriously injured in Nairobi\u2019s Central Business District (CBD) on Wednesday during tense confrontations between police and demonstrators marking the first anniversary of the Gen Z-led June 25, 2024, protests. The female officer, part of a contingent deployed to monitor the commemoration protests, sustained a severe head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}