When the anti-finance Bill protests started in Nakuru at 11 am on Tuesday morning, there was no indication that things would turn fatal.

For the better part of the morning, a group of vibrant youth carrying placards that amplified their message with the expression of anger hopelessness and grief on their faces, filled the streets.

For four hours, they moved street to street letting their voices heard, With every minute, the crowds swelled.

The climax of the protests was at the KFA roundabout where a large crowd stood, forcing traffic to be diverted towards ASK showground.

Police officers clear a section of the highway next to Nakuru Statehouse during the anti-finance bill protests on June 25, 2024.

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

With the momentum dying off, a section of the protesters decided to call it a day, leaving the city through Kenyatta avenue.

However, another group had a different destination: Statehouse.

Fuelled by rage, the protesters walked to the highly protected area, chanting statements against the President.

In what seemed like a blink of a second, the group managed to force their way in, pelting stones at the guard’s post situated at the gate.

A police shield lies on the ground next to the guard's post at Nakuru Statehouse on June 25, 2024.

Within no time, gunshots reigned in the air causing the protesters to scatter. Many ran in the direction of the open field next to statehouse struggling to lie on the ground, albeit to escape the flying bullets.

The gunshots were closely followed by teargas canisters.

It was this incident that agitated the protesters even more.

Protesters stare down police officers on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway during anti-finance bill protests on June 25, 2024.

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

Angry that their mission was aborted, the youth engaged the police in running battles that ended with them being pushed up to Platinum 7D club with the others pushed back to Gate Iguru along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway. Another group watched from a far at the section 58 road.

This standoff lasted for over 45minutes.

Bullet shells lie on the tarmac outside Nakuru Statehouse on June 25, 2024.

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

When the dust settled, bullet shell casings, stones and a pool of blood was evidence of the chaos that had just ensued. From a distance, we could hear a group of youth shouting “media kujeni, wamemuua (journalists come over, they have killed him).”

Man gets shot outside Nakuru Statehouse during anti-finance bill protests

As we made our way back to the Nakuru city centre, the town which we left full of life was now a ghost town with the pungent smell of tear gas in the air.

We quickly learnt that a group of goons had stormed the town in the afternoon forcing police officers to kick them away using teargas.

The main highway was filled with stones, making it impassable for cars to pass through.

Protesters light a bonfire and block a section of the Nakuru-Nairobi highway in front of Nakuru Statehouse on June 25, 2024.

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

All the while you could hear gunshots from a distance with people scampering for cover in the nearest building.

For many people, they could not understand how the peaceful protests earlier in the day had turned to a battlefield by evening.

As we ushered in the night, we could hear police sirens from a far and the streets clear with a countable number of people on the streets.

Mtaa Wangu can now confirm that 13 victims were shot, all of whom were male.

Out of these two are dead, one admitted in ICU, while ten others are nursing their wounds in various hospitals across the country.

A handful of protesters turn up for demos in Nakuru city

Author Spotlight

Purity Kinuthia