Gen Z protests in Kenya to demand President William Ruto’s resignation

Akisa Wandera
Reporting from Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Chanting “Ruto must go,” thousands of protesters have flooded Nairobi’s
streets to demand the resignation of the president.

They waved Kenyan flags and carried branches as a symbol of peaceful opposition.

Police had deployed barricades and razor wire
to seal off major roads – especially those leading to State House, President Ruto’s official residence, and parliament.

Crowds are moving in groups through Nairobi’s central business district. In some unexpected moments amid
the charged atmosphere, protesters paused to play football on a closed-off street.

However,
in several other places, the mood quickly turned confrontational.

Police resorted
to water cannons and tear gas to disperse the swelling crowds.

Video footage
from independent journalists showed plumes of white tear gas drifting between
tall buildings, sending protesters scrambling for cover, coughing, and
shielding their eyes. But they returned, chanting defiantly.

In the
heart of Nairobi, protesters marched pass shuttered shops and empty
streets. The razor wire fencing around parliament stood as a stark reminder of
last year’s violent unrest, when protesters breached security and stormed the building, setting part of it alight.

Today, the fence around parliament was lined with wreaths and
handwritten notes from grieving families and defiant youths.

A young
woman draped in a Kenyan flag clutched a poster bearing the names of those
killed a year ago by the security forces as they tried to end the protests.