Under the leaden skies of June 25, 2025, the streets of Nairobi, and cities like Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyahururu, Eldoret, Kakamega, and others awoke to the thunder of thousands of young voices, Each city uniting in memory and defiance, they took to the roads, their banners aloft, to commemorate a grim anniversary,
one year since the fiery anti-tax demonstrations that draped parliament in smoke and cost dozens of lives. This time, their cries echoed with added urgency demanding not only reform, but the resignation of President William Ruto.
In the capital’s heart, organized barricades of razor wire guarded the Parliament and State House, as police in riot gear charged into the surging crowd. Tear gas canisters punctured the air, rubber and live bullets followed. Hospitals most notably Kenyatta National, overflowed up to 56 wounded, many bearing bullet wounds, among them grievously injured. Outside Nairobi, in the town of Matuu, at least two protesters fell to gunfire, their deaths adding fresh grief to a nation still mourning last year’s losses.
As the clashes raged, the Kenyan government yanked live television and radio broadcasts of the protests, pressing stations off the air under penalty of “regulatory action.” Yet this media blackout only fanned outrage. The High Court was invoked, rights groups rallied, and outlets like KTN and NTV continued airing on digital platforms, defying censorship in the name of public visibility.
Kenya at a Crossroads: Protests, Repression, and the Struggle for Constitutional Justice
Amid the unrest, the state declared a freeze schools shuttered, businesses closed their doors, streets emptied, rivers of silence flowing where commerce once thrived. The police issued stern warnings: no storming of the president’s office, no encroaching on parliament’s precinct. Yet, like a poem etched in human flesh, the defiant beat of protest persisted thousand‑strong, youth‑driven, Gen Z‑led, demanding an end to police brutality, systemic corruption, and spiraling poverty .
Doctors and NGOs sounded alarms. Up to 400 injured some gravely testified to the chaos. Rights groups decried a heavy-handed security response and the suppression of free media. The Katiba Institute filed a High Court petition, challenging the constitutionality of police roadblocks and barriers to peaceful assembly.
Yet in this tempest of protest and repression, a fragile light of justice flickered. The High Court intervened, ordering the resumption of live coverage affirming both the people’s right to know and their right to dissent. In this legal championing, there echoed a potent reminder, that even amid tear gas and gunfire, constitutional safeguards remain a lifeline in Kenya’s democratic struggle
The nation stands at a crossroads. Running battles fill its streets, dozens lie wounded or dead, media censorship meets judicial rebuke, schools and shops lie empty, and a generation galvanized by shared suffering calls for change. At their forefront is a stark question: will Kenya confront its festering grievances or will silence, once again, follow the storm?
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