{"id":117847,"date":"2025-07-10T07:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T07:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/rutos-directive-for-police-to-immobilize-rioters-scorned-with-crutch-memes\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T07:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T07:03:11","slug":"rutos-directive-for-police-to-immobilize-rioters-scorned-with-crutch-memes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/rutos-directive-for-police-to-immobilize-rioters-scorned-with-crutch-memes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto\u2019s directive for police to immobilize rioters scorned with crutch memes"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 \u2014 A wave of memes mocking President William Ruto\u2019s controversial directive for police to shoot protesters in the leg has flooded the social media, with critics accusing the Head of State of endorsing brutality in the face of growing dissent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One viral image shared by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua \u2014 an AI-generated photo showing dozens of people walking on crutches \u2014 summed up the outrage. <\/p>\n

Gachagua, now the DCP party leader, used the image to ridicule what he called the president\u2019s \u201cwar on the people who made him president.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a fiery statement accompanying the image on Thursday night, Gachagua accused Ruto of orchestrating violence against communities while shielding those responsible. <\/p>\n

He questioned the credibility of the police in investigating recent unrest, alleging that officers not only failed to stop the chaos but actively facilitated it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we report state-sponsored militia and those who organized them to the police who supervised them as they burned and looted property?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are asking us to name those who organised? I named you as the person responsible for unleashing violence against the community that made you President.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nRuto says police to immobilize vandals, take them to court<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Gachagua further slammed the president\u2019s remarks directing police to shoot lawbreakers \u201con the foot\u201d to immobilize them, calling it an insult to injury.<\/p>\n

The comment \u2014 made by Ruto on Thursday during a visibly heated address in response to recent anti-government protests \u2014 has drawn sharp rebuke from human rights organizations, opposition leaders, and the public at large.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Nairobi\u2019s Kilimani during the launch of the police affordable housing project, the President condemned the escalating destruction of property witnessed during recent anti-government demonstrations and declared a zero-tolerance approach to lawlessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody torching and destroying another person\u2019s business should be shot in the feet and taken to the hospital pending court appearance,\u201d he told police chiefs.<\/p>\n

Social media users responded with satire and scathing humor as crutches-themed memes, AI-generated videos, and mocking hashtags went gone viral.<\/p>\n

The response comes a day after opposition figures pushed another hashtag \u2014 WeAreAllKikuyu \u2014 underscoring growing digital defiance against the state.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 \u2014 A wave of memes mocking President William Ruto\u2019s controversial directive for police to shoot protesters in the leg has flooded the social media, with critics accusing the Head of State of endorsing brutality in the face of growing dissent. One viral image shared by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua \u2014 […]<\/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-117847","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\/117847","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=117847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}