Kenya police block Nairobi as Gen Z protest anniversary swells

Kenyan police blocked major roads into Nairobi on Thursday, sealed off Parliament and pushed the central business district into near silence as the June 25 anniversary of the Gen Z protests drew a heavy security operation. The day marked two years since anti-Finance Bill demonstrators stormed Parliament in 2024 and forced President William Ruto to withdraw the tax package.

Roadblocks went up on key approaches including Thika Road, Mombasa Road and Waiyaki Way, leaving commuters stranded in long traffic jams and cutting Nairobi off from surrounding areas such as Mlolongo, Githurai, Ruiru and Kangemi. The city center was largely deserted as officers massed around Parliament Buildings and other government sites to block marches before they could build into a broader show of strength.

Ruto had said Kenyans would be allowed to protest, but warned against attempts to shut down the country. Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police would escort peaceful demonstrators and stop criminals from infiltrating the marches, language that underscored how closely the state linked the anniversary to security and political risk. For the government, the date has become more than a crowd-control problem: it is a test of whether the youth movement that shook Parliament in 2024 still has the power to unsettle authority.

At Parliament, opposition figures Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua and David Maraga joined activists and victims’ families, laying wreaths at barricades and calling for transparency over justice and compensation for those hurt or killed in the 2024 unrest. Families said they were protesting delays in accountability and what they described as a lack of clarity in the compensation process for abuses suffered during the crackdown.

The anniversary has become a memorial as much as a political rally. At least 60 people died in the 2024 protests, and a police watchdog later said at least 127 people were killed across the June-July 2024 and 2025 protest periods. Amnesty International said Kenyan authorities have increasingly used digital intimidation and other tactics against Gen Z organizers, and estimated that the broader protest wave left at least 128 people dead, 3,000 arrested and more than 83 forcibly disappeared.

For many young Kenyans, June 25 has hardened into a symbol of resistance against police brutality, economic hardship and weak governance. The movement remains decentralized and heavily organized online, a structure that has made it harder to contain and harder for the state to ignore.