Defiant protesters vow to hold 10-million-strong countrywide march

A Gen Z demonstrator during the anti-Finance Bill demos in Nyeri, June 25, 2024. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

Hours after President William Ruto threatened a crackdown against anti-tax protesters, participants of the nationwide demos promised an escalation aimed at occupying State House today.

Thousands of young Kenyans participated in a discussion on X Wednesday, vowing to marshal a 10-million-strong nationwide march, with the epicentre at Ruto’s official residence.

On an X Space named “Ruto has lost Legitimacy”, they promised to bring Nairobi to a standstill, urging other Kenyans to make their way to the capital. Attendees criticised the president’s reference to them as “criminals”. Participants would salute each other as “fellow criminal” in mockery of Ruto’s remarks.

Passionate and teary, they termed their actions on Tuesday, which included storming Parliament, “acts of courage and patriotism”. And they would call the several Kenyans killed in the protests “martyrs”, urging that all who would fall in the hands of police to be honoured by draping their bodies in the national flag.

“I would be very happy to go to heaven knowing I have been wrapped in our nation’s flag, whose freedom I am willing to die protecting,” a participant remarked.

The defiant Kenyans, some of whom said they were traumatised by killings by the police, also faulted the deployment of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to counter their protests as unlawful and aimed at instilling fear in them.

“They are banking on fear but our unity remains our strength. We shall not fear even if they unleash the KDF on us. We cannot bow to threats from an Artificial Intelligence-generated speech,” said one of the attendees.

The Space meeting comes amid growing pressure for government restraint from different quarters. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urged restraint by police and peaceful protests.

Former Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri, who attended the virtual meeting, called for reasoning.

“What happens when the guns no longer invoke fear but anger and determination. Even armies have limitations. Let’s pause. Let’s reason. Before we lose the opportunity to do that,” Theuri posted on X.

They openly explored plans of penetrating State House, announcing their mission had gone beyond rejecting tax hikes, morphing into rejecting Ruto’s presidency.

The escalation, they said, was necessitated by the indiscriminate shooting of unarmed protesters by the police, who they accused of conducting “target practice” against Kenyans, scenes they said they have only witnessed in sadistic video games.

Speakers warned of more police brutality if they did not rise against him “non-violently”.

“The whole country cannot be wrong. This man must be stopped. We must take our country back. If we stop now, there is a very high chance that we will lose our country,” one, audibly in tears, said.

Emotions spiraled as more and more spoke. There was evident rage in many of their voices, with one observing that anger, also caused by government functionaries flaunting opulence as Kenyans struggled to make ends meet, fueled their rebellion.

“It pains me that someone spends Sh20 million every weekend and I can’t find a job,” said an unemployed medic, who said he was in Kisumu.

There were concerns that the nation was regressing to the dark days, warning that abuses to human rights would not be possible in this age. The youths said they would document atrocities by the police and petition the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Netherlands, for action.

“It cannot be right that people are shot while kneeling, raising their hands in the air in surrender," said another.