Kenyan police arrested 355 people across multiple counties on June 25, 2026, as demonstrators attempted to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly anti-tax protests that rocked the country in 2025. Officers sealed off Nairobi’s central business district with metal barricades and deployed in force across the capital, halting public transport and effectively shutting down the city centre for much of the day.
The Weight of a Year
June 25, 2025 marked one of the most dramatic days in Kenya’s post-independence political history. Driven by outrage over the Finance Bill 2024, thousands of young Kenyans stormed Parliament Buildings in Nairobi. Security forces opened fire, killing multiple protesters, and the government ultimately withdrew the contested legislation as President William Ruto fired most of his Cabinet.
A City Under Siege
Police erected barricades across key entry points to the central business district from the early morning hours. Running battles between officers deploying tear gas and water cannons and groups of protesters were reported in Nairobi’s Westlands, Githurai, and South B areas, as well as in Kiambu, Kajiado, Bungoma, and Nyeri counties.
Democracy Under Strain
The crackdown on the June 25 anniversary has intensified scrutiny of Kenya’s democratic trajectory under the Ruto administration. International observers and civil society groups have warned that the combination of mass arrests, restrictions on assembly, and the targeting of protest organisers represents a pattern of democratic backsliding.
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