It has been exactly one year since Nairobi’s streets ran red. On 25 June 2024, Gen Z-led protests against the Finance Bill turned violent. Parliament was stormed. Police opened fire. At least 60 young lives were cut short. Now, as Kenya prepares for anniversary rallies tomorrow, the wounds remain fresh.
What began as a revolt on TikTok and X morphed into reality. Marchers chanted in unison: “Ruto Must Go” and “Reject FinanceBill2024” Influencers like Anita Barasa rallied their peers. The youth tech-savvy, angry, and relentless marched not for a party, but for principle. By the end of that day, they were no longer just “Gen Z.” They had become patriots.
A Movement Born Online
It started on TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Young Kenyans, frustrated by rising taxes, poor job prospects, and political indifference, rallied under the hashtags #RejectFinanceBill2024, #OccupyParliament, and #GenZForKenya. They protested taxes on essentials like bread, diapers, and mobile money transfers.
“This generation doesn’t wait for politicians. We make our own future,” said Zaha Indimuli, one of the many online organisers, in a BBC interview. Unlike past protests, this movement was spontaneous, leaderless, and fiercely patriotic. And unlike past protests, it spread fast 35 counties joined in, with Nairobi at the centre.
Black Tuesday: When Parliament Burned
On 25 June, thousands marched to Parliament. What started as a peaceful protest turned into chaos. Protesters breached the gates.
MPs were evacuated through tunnels. Fires burned at the National Assembly’s doors.
Police and military responded with brutal force. Tear gas filled the air. Live bullets were fired.
“I saw people fall like trees being cut,” recalled Antony Chege, who was shot near Holy Family Basilica. He survived. Many others didn’t.
Faces of the Fallen
These are not just numbers. They were sons, daughters, students, workers lives full of promise.
Among them:
- Rex Kanyike Masai – Shot on Moi Avenue. His mother, Gillian Munyao, later spoke to Citizen TV: “You drained out on that pavement… and they did nothing.”
- Charles Owino – Gunned down in Kitengela.
- Denzel Omondi – Found drowned days after vanishing.
- Kepher Odiwuor Ouma – Allegedly beaten to death; police called it ‘mob justice’.
- Evans Kiratu – Killed by a tear gas canister to the head.
- Ericsson Mutisya – Shot near Parliament.
- Eric Shieni – Finance student
- Cause of death: Shot in the back of the head from 25 metres away as he was leaving Parliament grounds. BBC traced the bullet to a Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) soldier. The shot was found to be deliberate, not a warning. BBC stated: “The aim was to kill.”
- David Chege, Belinda Achieng, Edwin Otieno, and many others names that live on in murals and marches.
A forensic pathologist at Nairobi’s City Mortuary later told Reuters that many victims’ deaths were misclassified some listed as accidents or drownings instead of gunshot wounds.
For every name lost in the Gen Z protests, there is a mother who waits, a father who questions, and siblings who still call out to someone who will never answer. The 25 June 2024 protests didn’t just take lives they shattered homes. Months later, justice is nowhere in sight. Yet the families remember. They speak often alone, often unheard. Gillian Munyao was the first parent to speak out publicly after her son, Rex Kanyike Masai , was killed by police on Moi Avenue days before Parliament was stormed.
She told Citizen TV:
“I watched him drain out… right there on the pavement. There was nothing I could do. My son wanted to change this country. He ended up a hashtag.”
Rex had just completed his studies. He wasn’t political, but he joined the march because, as he’d told his cousin, “If we don’t speak now, we’ll suffer forever.” Gillian led one of the first candlelight vigils in Nairobi, holding up his bloodstained shirt in front of cameras. To date, no officer has been arrested.
The last image of Eric Shieni shows him walking away from Parliament grounds, hands up, phone still recording. Seconds later, a KDF soldier shot him in the back of the head. He was dead before he hit the ground.
His sister, Janet Shieni, told The Standard:
“He believed in peaceful protest. He didn’t throw a stone. He didn’t burn a tyre. They killed him like an enemy soldier. He had no gun only a dream.”
Eric had been studying finance and helping pay school fees for his younger siblings. His father still visits the spot where he fell.
A father of three, David Chege went to the protest as a volunteer medic. Videos show him helping the wounded before being shot in the chest.
His wife, Mary Chege, shared her heartbreak with BBC Africa Eye:
“Every evening my youngest daughter stands at the gate. ‘Is Daddy coming today?’ she asks. How do I explain that the people meant to protect us are the ones who took him?”
David’s family held a quiet burial in Kiambu. Mary has since lost her job. She says no one from the government or police has ever contacted her.
Ericsson Mutisya was shot alongside Chege outside Parliament. His family describes him as joyful, ambitious, and the one who always made people laugh.
His older brother, Jackson Mutisya, told NTV:
“He saved up to open a small meat business. He told us, ‘I want to become my own boss’. He marched for fairness, for his little shop. He never came back.”
Jackson says the police only returned his brother’s ID card covered in blood.
Most families received no death certificates, no autopsies, no answers. Some were even discouraged from holding public burials. Others were warned not to speak to journalists. Despite repeated promises, the government has not published an official list of those killed or compensated any next-of-kin.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has documented dozens of complaints, but progress has stalled. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has yet to release its full findings one year later.
Across Nairobi, their names are written on placards, graffitied on walls, printed on t-shirts: Rex. Eric. Belinda. David. Ericsson. Denzel. Chege.
At each protest since, families and friends carry framed portraits through the streets. Some carry the clothes their loved ones died in. Others carry silence, the only thing the state has given them.
Abductions, Fear and Silencing
The violence didn’t stop on the streets.
During and after the protests, more than 80 people were abducted, according to Amnesty Kenya and the Kenya National Human Rights Commission. Some were released after days of beatings. Others remain missing.
Among them were prominent voices like:
- Shadrack Kiprono – Student organiser, picked up at night.
- Kevin Monari – Held incommunicado for three days.
- Gabriel Oguda – Journalist and activist, taken from his home.
Many were denied access to lawyers and medical care.
The World Watches
The global press paid close attention. CNN cameras captured the moment Auma Obama, half-sister to Barack Obama, was tear-gassed mid-interview. Al Jazeera reported from behind police barricades, calling the crackdown “one of the worst in Kenya’s history.”
A BBC investigation named three officers suspected of firing into crowds. Families of victims demanded their arrest. None have been charged.
One Year Later: The Battle for Memory
As the anniversary approaches, tensions are rising again. Protests are planned in Nairobi and other cities. But this time, pro-government youth groups armed with clubs and backed by local politicians have also announced “counter-protests.”
The Kenya Human Rights Commission warned of “organised attempts to intimidate mourners and silence remembrance.”
Despite the threats, many say they will march. For justice. For memory. For Kenya.
From Protesters to Patriots
This was no ordinary demonstration. It was a generational awakening. A line drawn in blood.
Gen Z did what few expected: they rejected tribal politics. They refused to wait. They stood together not as opposition or loyalists but as patriots.
Their voices echoed beyond hashtags. Their pain became a national reckoning.
One year later, they still march.
Not for revenge.
But for the right to be heard.
And for those who no longer can speak for themselves.
25 June 2025, marks the first anniversary of the deadly anti-Finance Bill protests in Kenya. Demonstrations are planned in Nairobi and several other counties to commemorate those who died during last year’s clashes, particularly outside Parliament.
