The 2025 Kenyan protests are a series of youth-led demonstrations that began in June 2025, primarily in Nairobi. These events were sparked by the death of blogger and teacher Albert Omondi Ojwang in police custody and fueled by public discontent over rising living costs, government corruption, and police brutality. These events built on the momentum of the 2024 Kenya Finance Bill protests, where demonstrations against proposed tax hikes led to 65 deaths and the storming of Parliament on 25 June 2024, prompting President Ruto to veto the bill.
Background and Initial Triggers
Major protests against the government of Kenyan President William Ruto first emerged in 2024, with the introduction of the Kenya Finance Bill. The protests were largely organized over social media by Gen Z Kenyans. Youth activists who rallied the protestors had no leadership or formal structure.
On 30 June, mask vendor and bystander Boniface Kariuki succumbed to his injuries after being shot in the head at close range by a police officer on 17 June in Nairobi. He was declared brain-dead in hospital by doctors at the national referral hospital.
Escalation and Government Response
Although the protests had dissipated by 1 July, they resumed on 7 July, known in Kenya as Saba Saba Day, to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the 1990 pro-democracy march. 41 people were killed and 29 others were injured after officers fired and hurled tear gas canisters, opened fire and used water cannons on protestors. Dozens of officers also sustained injuries after being hit with stones.
One of those killed, 12-year-old Bridgit Njoki, was shot in the head when a single bullet pierced the roof, puncturing the ceiling and striking her while she was watching television in the living room of her house.
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On 9 July, President William Ruto told police that "anyone caught burning another person's business or property should be shot in the leg, hospitalised, and later taken to court." On 15 July, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced that 1,500 Kenyans had been arrested in connection with the protests and faced charges of terrorism, murder, robbery with violence, arson, property damage and sexual assault.
Murkomen characterized the protests as "raw and unprecedented terror," and protesters as "marauding gangs of looters and barefaced anarchists". However, reporting by The Guardian in early August suggested that Kenyan police had made some arrests at random, including of people fully uninvolved with the protests.
Human Rights Concerns
According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), 60 people died and hundreds more were injured between June and July when police used excessive and unnecessary force during protests against the Finance Bill. The youngest victim was 12-year-old Kennedy Onyango, who died from gunshot wounds sustained on 27 June in Kajiado county.
During the violent repression of anti-Finance Bill protests, human rights observers documented the unlawful dispersal by police of peaceful gatherings, as well as arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of protesters. Between June and August, more than 600 protesters were arrested for participating in peaceful protests, according to KNCHR. Some were held beyond the legal limit of 24 hours; others were presented to court on trumped-up charges.
According to the Law Society of Kenya, at least 72 people, including human rights defenders and activists, were forcibly disappeared in connection with their involvement in protests against the Finance Bill. The whereabouts and fate of some of them remained unknown at the end of the year.
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At least 104 cases of extrajudicial executions were recorded during the year. Denzel Omondi, a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, was found dead in a swamp in Juja, Kiambu county, on 6 July after taking part in protests against the Finance Bill.
Between March and April, the government forcibly evicted at least 6,000 households and demolished their homes in the Mathare and Mukuru Kwa Njenga settlements of Nairobi. The evictions were carried out amid heavy rainfall and flooding.
Gen Z Uprising and Government Misunderstanding
The country’s young people are no longer willing to accept politics without accountability, and the government’s repressive crackdown is only fueling their movement. Kenya has long been hailed as a stable democracy in East Africa. But today, this well-constructed narrative is beginning to crumble.
Over the past year, the nation has witnessed a mass youth uprising led by Kenya’s Gen Z who have taken to the streets and social media to demand government accountability and reform. Rather than reform, however, the state has responded with force. Peaceful demonstrations have been met with police violence, abductions, and a well-coordinated effort to silence dissent.
The uprising began in June 2024, in response to the proposed Finance Bill that sought to introduce a raft of punitive taxes targeting essential goods such as bread, sanitary products, and digital services. These tax hikes angered Kenyans, particularly Gen Z and millennials, because they were coming from a government that had come to power on a promise to ease the economic burden.
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President William Ruto styled himself as a “hustler,” committed to transforming the economy from the bottom up. This narrative resonated with the country’s “Hustler Nation” - the working class and unemployed youth who saw in him a break from Kenya’s elitist politics dominated by political dynasties. But his administration’s attempt to tax the nation out of debt without tackling corruption quickly was perceived as a betrayal of the hustler ideology that propelled him to power.
What followed was a wave of mass, organic, nationwide Gen Z-led online mobilization. The government’s initial response was dismissive. Senior officials characterized the dissent as online noise, and Parliament pressed ahead with efforts to pass the bill. The movement echoed patterns seen in Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests - decentralized, leaderless, and digitally native.
The state doubled down in the face of growing dissent. What followed was one of the most violent crackdowns in Kenya’s recent history. Security forces unleashed their full weight against the protesters. Tear gas, water cannons, and live ammunition were used against unarmed protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 60 young protesters lost their lives in June alone.
While the president eventually reversed his support of the Finance Bill and opted not to sign it into law, he has consistently missed an opportunity to offer leadership and lead the nation toward a path of healing and reconciliation. As protests moved from the streets, back to digital spaces, the state’s tactics also evolved. Behind the scenes, a chilling wave of state-led abductions began to emerge, targeting young people linked to the protest movement.
Activists, bloggers, and digital creators who dared to speak against the government were picked up by hooded or masked plainclothes security agents, often in broad daylight. Many of the detained were held incommunicado for days, without a formal charge or access to legal representation.
The generation of young people leading this movement has long been excluded from decisionmaking, yet bears the brunt of the economic uncertainty, poverty, and unemployment plaguing the country. It has seemingly refused to acknowledge that Kenya’s youth, who make up more than 75 percent of the population and who were once touted as a demographic dividend, are now ready to engage in meaningful civic discourse.
Thirty-five years later however, the tragic disconnect between the state and its youth resurfaced. June and July 2025 were meant to be a period of reflection marking a year since the breach of Parliament and the lives lost during the protests while offering a moment to reflect on the nation’s path to democracy. Instead, the country was thrust back into turmoil when police again disrupted peaceful demonstrations.
This latest wave was ignited by the death of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old teacher who died in police custody. Once again, the government ignored the call for accountability.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen issued a shoot-to-kill order, directing police to use live ammunition on those attacking police stations or officers. Although he later reframed the directive as a targeted response to acts of violence, the directive bypasses legal norms and due process, raising serious concerns in a country governed by the rule of law. Such an order is also prone to misuse, particularly within a police service with a longstanding culture of impunity and a history of indiscriminate violence against unarmed civilians.
Meanwhile, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki labeled the protesters a threat to national security, suggesting their actions amounted to terrorism. This rhetoric is representative of the government’s growing intolerance of dissent. According to the government, 42 people have lost their lives in this latest wave of violence, with more than 500 civilians and police officers injured, and more than 1,500 people arrested.
A bill introduced by Nairobi Woman Representative MP Esther Passaris, which she has since put on hold, proposed to restrict protests within 100 meters of key government institutions including the Parliament, State House, and courts, while granting the Interior Ministry and police the power to designate protest zones.
There have also been murmurs in policy circles about revisiting additional regulations that would require demonstration organizers to notify authorities in advance and provide personal information, including their phone numbers and physical addresses, which could be used to intimidate and spy on protest leaders.
The 2010 Constitution marked a significant turning point: a bold promise of a nation guided by the rule of law, human rights, good governance, and accountability. Hailed as one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa, it symbolized hope for a new Kenya.
The current government appears more invested in its own survival than in the well-being of its citizens. It is waging a simultaneous assault on the people, the Constitution, and the institutions meant to hold power to account.
The Gen Z protests have awakened a political consciousness that cannot be unlearned. Kenya’s future will not be shaped by the complacency of those in power, but by the courage of its youth.
Kenya’s ‘Gen-Z’ protests against government, explained
The demonstrations on Wednesday were held to mark the bloody June 25, 2024, protests against tax rises when police opened fire on large numbers of protesters, killing at least 60, according to rights groups. During a televised speech on Thursday, Kenya’s interior minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, blamed protesters for the violence. He described the demonstrations as “terrorism disguised as dissent”, and accused protesters of attempting to carry out a coup against the government.
Events of June 25, 2025
Thousands took to the streets in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisii and several other major Kenyan cities in the early hours of Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the violent 2024 anti-tax protests, particularly the killing of 60 protesters, on June 25 last year. Bearing Kenyan flags, the protesters chanted slogans like “Ruto Must Go” and “Occupy Statehouse” in opposition to President William Ruto’s government and referring to his official residence.
Banks and schools in Nairobi’s central business district were shut in anticipation of the protests, and police had cordoned off the State House, as well as the parliament building, with layers of barbed wire. Last year, protesters broke into the parliament block, chasing out politicians and setting parts of the building on fire.
Wednesday’s march was largely peaceful at first - and much smaller compared with last year’s protests. Scenes in Nairobi, however, turned violent later on, after “goons” or men believed to be undercover security officials and armed with whips and clubs attacked the protesters. Police also used live fire, rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
Shops and businesses in central Nairobi were also attacked, looted and burned by unidentified groups among the demonstrators. Some protesters also burned security barricades in the city and physically attacked suspected plain-clothed officers. In Kikuyu town, about 20km (12.5 miles) from Nairobi, protesters stormed and torched local government buildings, including a police station and courtroom. Some were arrested by the police but have not been identified. In other cities, including Mombasa, marches remained peaceful.
Clashes were also reported in the towns of Matuu and Mlolongo in the eastern Machakos County, approximately 100km (62 miles) from the capital. Violence was also reported in Karatina, Nyeri County.
Casualties and Responses
Figures vary and the Kenyan authorities have not confirmed the number of dead. According to a joint statement issued on Wednesday evening by the Kenya Medical Association, Law Society of Kenya, and the Police Reforms Working Group, eight people were killed, most of them in Nairobi. The group said 400 others were being treated for injuries, including three police officers. Of those, 83 people sustained serious injuries, including at least eight protesters treated for gunshot wounds.
However, Irungu Houghton, the head of Amnesty Kenya, told Reuters that 16 people had died, adding that this figure had been verified by the global rights watchdog and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). Security guard Fred Wamale Wanyonyi, who was on duty guarding a mall in central Nairobi, was one of those confirmed killed, according to rights groups.
Protesters had gathered to mark the anniversary of last year’s anti-tax protests, in which some 60 people were killed by police, although no officials have been punished. Activists said it was important for Kenyans to remember the bloody protests of 2024.
On Wednesday, demonstrators were also demanding the overthrow of Ruto’s government and called for an end to police brutality, corruption and general economic hardship in the country. Tensions had risen in recent weeks after 31-year-old blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang died in police custody between June 7 and 8. He had been arrested for allegedly insulting deputy police chief Eliud Lagat, and the police initially told his family he had died from self-inflicted wounds.
Ojwang’s killing prompted outrage and protests across the country, with people calling for the officers involved to be punished. Lagat, who denies any wrongdoing, stepped down from his post last week pending the outcome of an investigation. Three officers were charged with Ojwang’s murder this week.
Official Responses and Actions
The protests were anticipated, and authorities had been informed of them, rights activists said. Despite this, he said, there was clear evidence of excessive force in the police response. Authorities shut down live coverage of the protests on Wednesday afternoon, but that directive was later overturned by Nairobi’s High Court, which ordered the Communications Authority of Kenya to restore signals to three independent television stations.
Ruto, who was attending a burial in the coastal town of Kilifi on Wednesday, called for the demonstrations to remain peaceful in a statement.
The 2024 Finance Bill Protests
Violent protests shook the country starting on June 18, 2024, after Ruto announced a controversial Finance Bill, a tax law that many said would make essential commodities costlier, as the country was gripped by an economic crisis that had seen the value of the Kenyan shilling drop by 22 percent.
Young people largely led the protests, which went on for more than a week, but older Kenyans also filled the streets in anger. Although lawmakers removed certain clauses from the bill before passing it into law, the protests continued, with demonstrators calling for Ruto to step down. Officials insisted higher taxes were needed for the government to fulfil loan agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On June 25, protesters broke into the Kenyan parliament, where lawmakers were convening. The demonstrators ransacked the building and set its entrance on fire. In response, the police opened fire, killing at least 60 people and abducting several others, including some journalists.
Ruto withdrew the bill on June 26, but the violence continued. Human Rights Watch has reported that following the protests, the bodies of some of those missing have turned up in rivers, forests and mortuaries, and showed signs of torture and mutilation. Some abductees told the rights group they were taken by officials who forced them to reveal the names of protest leaders.
Aftermath and Future Outlook
Calm returned to Nairobi on Thursday morning, although devastation was evident. Smoke was still rising from at least 10 torched buildings in downtown Nairobi as business owners returned to ransacked and looted stores in the central business district. In parliament, Ruto assented to the new Finance Bill 2025, from which tax rises had been removed.
Kenya’s Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui, in an interview, said electoral tensions in Tanzania were “impeding movement and curtailing investor confidence” in the East African Community economic bloc. He said that Tanzania also faced the challenge of creating enough jobs for its large youthful demographic amid growing frustration with the government, drawing parallels with Kenya’s recent youth-led protests.
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