{"id":124442,"date":"2025-11-10T08:06:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/11\/10\/ruto-says-no-regrets-for-order-to-shoot-protesters-in-the-feet-in-aj-appearance\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:06:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:06:29","slug":"ruto-says-no-regrets-for-order-to-shoot-protesters-in-the-feet-in-aj-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-says-no-regrets-for-order-to-shoot-protesters-in-the-feet-in-aj-appearance\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto says no regrets for order to shoot protesters in the feet in AJ appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 \u2014 President William Ruto says he has \u201cno regrets\u201d over his directive to police to shoot protesters \u201cin the feet,\u201d defending the use of force during violent anti-government demonstrations last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera<\/em> aired on Sunday, Ruto maintained that police acted lawfully when responding to riots that left dozens dead and businesses destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t regret those comments at all because the law allows the police to use force when other people\u2019s lives are in danger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When challenged on whether shooting protesters was excessive, he replied, \u201cThat is according to you. I think the police know what they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President said his administration had to \u201cbalance\u201d between allowing peaceful demonstrations and curbing criminal activity during the unrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had to balance between dealing with violent criminals on one end and managing protests on the other,\u201d he told James Bays.<\/p>\n

Ruto says police to immobilize vandals, take them to court \u00bb Capital News <\/a><\/p>\n

July 9 directive <\/h2>\n

Ruto\u2019s comments referred to a July 9 address in Nairobi\u2019s Kilimani area, where he warned vandals and looters that they would be immobilized and taken to court.<\/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 Ruto declared at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to do business. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President spoke amid escalating anti-government protests that saw supermarkets and small businesses looted and torched in several towns, including Meru, Kitengela, and Kahawa Sukari. <\/p>\n

Magunas Supermarket in Meru was among the worst hit \u2014 ransacked and later set ablaze.<\/p>\n

According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), thirty-one people were killed in the early wave of protests, with the toll later rising to sixty-five as demonstrations continued through June and July.<\/p>\n

Ruto dismissed claims that his administration tried to censor broadcasters covering the unrest, saying media freedom remains intact.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou yourself said \u2018tried,\u2019 because it never happened. The media is independent in Kenya,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rights groups, including Amnesty International and KNCHR, accused police of excessive force and called for independent investigations into the killings and alleged disappearances.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 \u2014 President William Ruto says he has \u201cno regrets\u201d over his directive to police to shoot protesters \u201cin the feet,\u201d defending the use of force during violent anti-government demonstrations last year. Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera aired on Sunday, Ruto maintained that police acted lawfully when responding to riots […]<\/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-124442","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\/124442","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=124442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}