Overview

• Police blocked major roads and sealed Nairobi’s central business district on July 7, forcing schools, malls and businesses to close under tight security lockdown.
• Officers fired tear gas, deployed water cannon and opened live fire to disperse protests commemorating Saba Saba, leaving at least ten people dead and hundreds detained.
• The demonstrations, led largely by urban youth, were fueled by anger over corruption, rising living costs and alleged police brutality, intensified by the June custody death of blogger Albert Ojwang.
• Human rights groups reported that an armed gang stormed the offices of the Kenya Human Rights Commission on the eve of the protests, and activists accused the government of deploying “hired goons” to disrupt peaceful gatherings.
• Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen defended the crackdown as necessary to protect life and property, warning security forces were on high alert to act decisively against violent infiltrators.