Protests and dissent in danger
This week, I worked on the police crackdown in Kenya on a blogger, dissent and protests. A situation that mirrors similar issues in other parts of the world...
Dear readers,
I hope this message finds you as well as possible, in a strange world.
You cannot have missed it: From the US to Georgia, Turkey and even the UK, the right to protest is under threat.
As a journalist working on African affairs, for RFI, this past week, I focused on East Africa.
A year on from landmark protests over taxes and corruption, Kenya's youth remains undeterred by a violent police response but faces conflicting ideas on where to go next. Meanwhile, the recent death of a blogger in prison has sparked new rounds of marches.
Background
In June 2024, marches erupted all over Kenya against a new bill sharply raising taxes. The protesters denounced the move, as the country still faces regular government corruption scandals and as 40 percent of people still live in poverty.
"It was spontaneous, leaderless, and unlike anything our country had ever seen," Hanifa Adan, a 28-year-old woman who became one of the most high-profile figures of what became known as the Gen Z protests, told news agencies.
The rallies were repeated and peaked on 25 June, when thousands stormed parliament where lawmakers were debating the bill, ultimately forcing President William Ruto to withdraw it.
But they also turned deadly: 60 died in police violence and dozens were arbitrarily detained.
The following weeks, protests faded, after this brutal response.
"State violence was brutal and traumatising, and it was meant to intimidate and silence us. But instead, it exposed the desperation of a system clinging to power," Adan added.
Diluted movement
Kenya had rarely seen protests of that kind, designated by observers as a new form of political uprising. Young people casted off their ethnic and geographic divides, which had for long defined their politics, focusing instead on policies.
But then deep differences started to emerge within the movement. Some protesters continued to engage in street protests, notably over women's rights and against police brutality, others took a different path, like Kasmuel McOure, 27, who had gained fame during the protests with his fiery statements the joined the establishment, allying with veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who recently forged an alliance with the government.
McOure now calls himself "a party man through and through", a move perceived by many protesters as a betrayal. "If you're going to play politics then let's play it properly," he told AFP.
Observers say he might intend to run for parliament at the next election in 2027. He said that young people "must take political power" and that the Gen Z movement was too disorganised to foster real change.
"I thought the majority of the people who were calling themselves leaders were agitating for the sake of agitating," he added.
Changing the system
For the first type of protesters, like Adan, political power is necessary but not compromise with the existing elite.
"Many young people are no longer content with just protesting from the outside. They want to be the ones shaping policy, not just reacting to it," she said.
"There's a new wave of young leaders who are ready to vie for seats, from county assemblies to parliament, and they're doing it without aligning themselves with the two dominant, and often corrupt, political parties," she added.
To her, the young movement could not avoid internal fissures, but she still sees strength in its diversity and the lessons they learned
The youth faced teargas, organised medical drives, created online campaigns and legal support systems, Adan said, and they are now prepared to take office but not like the current political class. "They're running not to join the system, but to transform it," she hopes.
New protests in Kenya
Now, with the death of the blogger Albert Ojwang in custody last weekend, new protests have erupted this past week.
Ojwang, 31, was declared dead on Sunday, two days after his arrest in the town of Homa Bay in western Kenya for allegedly criticising the country’s deputy police chief Eliud Lagat.
The first protest march began in the capital, Nairobi, on Monday last week, near the Central Police Station, where Ojwang died. Some protesters clashed with the police after officers used tear gas on activists twice.
For Amnesty International in Kenya, the affair signals a major concern about Kenya's police, which is not new.
"False publication is a misdemeanour 'crime'," the organisation wrote in a statement, co-signed by groups working on police reforms.
"Why would the Directorate of Criminal Investigations use so much public taxes to arrest Albert Ojwang in Homa Bay and drive 350 km past several police stations and courts to Central Police Station, Nairobi? Why would a suspect commit suicide after peacefully complying with an arrest and actively calling for family and friends to raise bail for him?"
The groups say that, "with our law enforcement agencies severely compromised", Kenyan authorities should appoint a UN fact-finding team to independently investigate the cases of deaths and abductions by the police.
"Without independent and external investigation, these practices shall remain a threat to Kenyan lives, the rule of law, national security and the public interest," the statement concludes.
Albert Ojwang’s death, Rose Njeri’s arrest, the violations against Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire are signals that the ruling classes of East Africa are not listening and are ready to crack down on their populations.
Latest development in Nairobi
The results of the autopsy, revealed on Tuesday 10 June, contradicted the version of the police : the injuries observed on Albert Ojwang were inflicted "by an external force," stated one of the doctors who performed it.
"The cause of death is very clear: there was head trauma and neck compression. We also noted injuries spread throughout the body, which suggests an assault. These are injuries inflicted by an external force," Bernard Midia, one of the five pathologists who conducted the medical examination, told the press. "If the head had been struck against the wall, there would have been distinct signs, such as frontal haemorrhage. But the bleeding we noted on the scalp was more extensive, on the face as well as on the sides and back of the head. When you add this up with the other injuries throughout the body, there is little chance that these were self-inflicted injuries."
According to the doctor, the autopsy also revealed signs of a struggle.
"The autopsy results confirm what we suspected after seeing the body: Albert Ojwang was tortured and brutally killed while in custody," Faith Odhiambo, president of the Kenyan Association of Legal Representatives, immediately reacted, along with several other civil society organisations, calling for justice. "They tried to force us to swallow a false story by claiming he killed himself by hitting his head. We want all the police officers involved to be held accountable!"
Consequently, Kenyan President William Ruto recognised on Wednesday 11 June that Albert Ojwang had died "at the hands of the police", reversing official accounts of his death in the latest case to draw scrutiny to the actions of the country's security services.
Ruto even urged caution in drawing conclusions from the death of blogger , which follows years of extrajudicial killings and disappearances that the president has repeatedly promised to stop in the face of rising public anger.
On Wednesday too, Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised for the police's implication that Ojwang died by suicide.
"Based on the report by IPOA... it is not true... He did not hit his head against the wall," Kanja told a Senate hearing.
The death of Ojwang, who wrote about political and social issues, has drawn widespread condemnation from rights groups and touched off protests outside the mortuary where his body was examined in the capital Nairobi.
"This tragic occurrence, at the hands of the police, is heartbreaking and unacceptable," Ruto added in his statement. "As we mourn his passing, let us patiently but vigilantly follow the progress of the investigations without making premature judgements or drawing conclusions."
Police under arrest
On Thursday 12 June, Kenyan authorities arrested a police constable in the death of a political blogger who was in custody, local media reported, as angry protests over the case continued in the capital Nairobi.
Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri said on Friday that a constable had been taken into custody, according to the AFP news agency.
He did not give further information, referring queries to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which is leading the investigation. There was no immediate comment from the IPOA.
According to IPOA, 20 people have died in police custody in just the past four months. The death of Ojwang, a vocal online critic, has become a symbol of growing public frustration with unchecked police power.
International pressure is mounting, with both the United States and European Union calling for a transparent and independent investigation into Ojwang’s death.
For all the details - Read my stories for RFI:
Man dies in Kenya cell after police arrest over online posts
Kenya protests erupt after activist Albert Ojwang dies in police custodyAnd for the whole East African region, listen to my latest podcast episode:
Silencing dissent in Tanzania, reckoning with genocide in Namibia
Read also:
Patrick Gathara’s piece for AJE, Senior Editor for Inclusive Storytelling at The New Humanitarian:
Kenyans “are depressingly familiar with police violence,” he wrote. “But Ojwang’s arrest and brutal murder were more than that. The incident is a chilling message to a troublesome generation as the country approaches what has become its protest season – ‘do not test us’.”
Worldwide wave against dissent
This violent suppression of demonstrations in Kenya is not an anomaly. Across the globe, protests are being increasingly criminalised, surveilled, and shut down — often under the guise of maintaining "public order". From authoritarian regimes to liberal democracies, a growing number of governments are restricting dissent in ways that would have once been unthinkable.
In the UK, sweeping legislation like the Public Order Act has made even peaceful protest a risky endeavour, with penalties for “causing disruption”, bans on repeat protesters, and broad police powers including stop-and-search without suspicion.
In France, protests against police violence and pension reforms have faced disproportionate force, tear gas, and kettling — echoing scenes from Nairobi or Dakar.
In the United States, heavily militarised policing has targeted racial justice activists and climate demonstrators, often branding them as threats to national security.
In India, protesters have been jailed under anti-terror laws. In Vietnam and Turkey, online dissent alone can land citizens in prison. In El Salvador, opposition voices are disappearing into the prison system without due process.
Dissent is not a threat to democracy — it is its lifeblood. What’s unfolding in Kenya should be a warning: if the right to protest is eroded in one place, it sets a precedent elsewhere. No society is immune.
Meanwhile, in Paris, though demonised by the government, protests are still in full swing…
But is anyone capable of stopping the massacres listening?
Thanks for reading and caring.
And feel free to comment or send replies.
Take care, best,
melissa
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Melissa Chemam
Journalist & Writer
Podcast: Spotlight on Africa
Blog: https://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/melissachemam