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TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Eight dead, more than 400 injured as cops suppress Kenya protests
At least eight people died and 400 were injured during nationwide antigovernment protests in Kenya on Wednesday, a year after deadly demonstrations against a tax bill, the national rights watchdog said. Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets to commemorate last year's demonstrations, in which more than 60 people died, with police firing teargas and water cannons to disperse them in the capital Nairobi, according to local media and a Reuters witness. Some protesters clashed with police, and the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said late Wednesday that eight deaths had been reported across the country, all 'allegedly from gunshot wounds'. 'More than 400 casualties have been reported, including demonstrators, police officers and journalists,' KNCHR said on its official X account. The watchdog did not say who had shot the victims, noting heavy police deployment and 'allegations of excessive use of force, including rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons, resulting in numerous injuries'. Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Why do we wear bullet proof vests to cover protests in Kenya? Because police shoot at unarmed people. And sometimes they die. Dramatic day expertly filmed by @mufabs as always, produced by @IsaacOyombe + photos by @festolang. Can't name Security for, well, security reasons — Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) June 25, 2025 An official at the capital's main Kenyatta National Hospital said the facility had received dozens of wounded people. The source said '107 admitted, most with gunshot injuries,' referring to rubber bullets and live rounds. He added that no deaths had been reported at KNH. National electricity provider Kenya Power said one of its security guards was shot dead during the protests while patrolling its headquarters in Nairobi. Large crowds were seen earlier heading in the direction of State House, the president's official residence, in scenes broadcast by Kenyan channel NTV before it and another broadcaster KTN were pulled off the air after defying an order to stop live broadcasts of the demonstrations. Both channels resumed broadcasts later on Wednesday after a court in Nairobi suspended the order issued by the Communications Authority of Kenya. Protesters torched court facilities in Kikuyu town on the outskirts of Nairobi, Citizen TV reported. Flames and thick smoke billowed from the court building in a video posted on the broadcaster's X account. WATCH | #JKLive with @KoinangeJeff @AyubAbdikadir — Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) June 25, 2025 Isolated clashes were reported in the port city of Mombasa, according to NTV, with protests also in the towns of Kitengela, Kisii, Matuu and Nyeri. Though last year's protests faded after President William Ruto withdrew proposed tax hikes, public anger has remained over the use of excessive force by security agencies, with fresh demonstrations this month over the death of a blogger in police custody. Six people, including three police officers, were charged with murder on Tuesday over the killing of 31-year-old blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang. All have pleaded not guilty. Ojwang's death has become a lightning rod for Kenyans still mourning those who perished at last year's demonstrations, blamed on security forces, against a backdrop of dozens of unexplained disappearances. 'We are fighting for the rights of our fellow youths and Kenyans and the people who died since June 25 ... we want justice,' Lumumba Harmony, a protester, told Reuters in Nairobi. The unprecedented scenes on Wednesday, showing police firing at protesters as they broke through barriers to enter parliament, created the biggest crisis of Ruto's presidency and sparked alarm among Kenya's international allies.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Post falsely claims Kenyan cabinet secretary involved in helicopter crash
'Police chopper carrying CS Aden Duale crash in Malindi,' reads the text overlaid on a TikTok post dated April 9, 2025. The clip, shared 499 times, includes an image of Duale and a video labelled '2025' showing the wreckage of an aircraft surrounded by onlookers. The post, which has since been deleted, also included unrelated text promoting the Kenyan government's Financial Inclusion Fund, also known as the Hustler Fund. But the USSD codes provided to access the money are deceptive and do not follow the correct format provided by the government (archived here). Duale became the health cabinet secretary on March 26, 2025, after President William Ruto reshuffled his cabinet (archived here). He was previously the cabinet secretary of environment, climate change and forestry, and cabinet secretary for defence before that. On April 18, 2024, then defence force chief Francis Ogolla died in a helicopter crash, following which Duale said that an investigation report into the accident would be made public (archived here and here). A year later, the defence ministry released the report, revealing that the crash was caused by an engine malfunction (archived here). However, the TikTok video claiming that Duale recently met the same fate is false. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip to find the original footage. A longer version of the video was published by Kenyan media outlet Nation on January 10, 2025 (archived here). '3 dead as light aircraft crashes on Malindi-Mombasa highway,' reads the video's title. The same helicopter wreckage - white tail with green, black and red stripes - and burnt debris scattered on the ground can be seen in both videos. According to a report by The Standard, the Cessna 182 aircraft was on a training mission and caught fire after crash-landing, hitting multiple motorcyclists in the process. Among those killed were the pilot, a motorcycle rider and a pillion passenger (archived here). The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) confirmed that the aircraft with registration number 5Y-CDC crashed two kilometres from Malindi airport (archived here). Duale was not on board. The incident was reported by other local and international media outlets (archived here and here). There are no credible reports to support the claim of Duale being involved in a helicopter accident. An incident that comes close was in July 2023, when a Kenya Defence Force chopper accompanying the helicopter Duale was in crashed on a security mission in northern Kenya's Turkana County (archived here). Duale's social media activity shows that he has been carrying out his ministerial responsibilities as usual. On the day the TikTok video was published, he presided over the signing of a contract at the Ministry of Health and was later hosted on the JKLive show on Kenya's Citizen TV (archived here and here).
