Kenyan police used tear gas to break up a protest in Nairobi on December 10, where hundreds of people had gathered to demand action against gender-based violence and femicide. The demonstration, which included chants of “stop killing women,” moved toward parliament before officers repeatedly dispersed the crowd. Videos and witness accounts also pointed to related protests in Mombasa and Lodwar.
The protest was part of a broader public backlash over femicides in Kenya, where activists say violence against women has become an urgent national crisis. According to the report, at least three people were arrested, including Irungu Houghton, the executive director of Amnesty International Kenya. Amnesty International and the Law Society of Kenya later condemned the police response, calling the arrests and the use of force a direct attack on peaceful protest and a chilling message for civic space.
The authorities did not immediately explain why the police intervened so aggressively, and there was no immediate comment from police in the account cited. That silence fed criticism from rights groups, which argued the protest was nonviolent and should have been protected. One activist, Mwikali Mueni, said she suffered a neck injury at the hands of police officers, underscoring how quickly a march about women’s safety became a confrontation about police conduct.
The demonstration came against a grim backdrop. Last month, President William Ruto committed more than $700,000 for a campaign to end femicide after the Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights issued a report on the issue. Ruto described gender-based violence as tragic and unacceptable. But the violence has continued to shape the public agenda. The police report cited in the article said at least 97 women were killed in femicides between August and October.
The deeper statistics suggest the problem has been building for years. The National Police Service did not provide earlier figures, but data compiled by Africa Data Hub showed at least 75 femicides in 2022 and 46 the year before. The Gender Violence Recovery Centre says one in three Kenyan women has been abused by the age of 18. Researchers and advocacy groups attribute the scale of the abuse to patriarchal norms and weak legal protections, with much of the violence committed by intimate partners or male relatives.
The police response also sits uneasily beside Kenya’s wider record on demonstrations. Security forces there have faced criticism for heavy-handed tactics during antigovernment protests, including deadly clashes earlier in the year. On December 10, the policing of a women’s rights march turned a public safety protest into another test of state restraint.
The crackdown risked turning a women’s rights rally into another measure of trust in the state. When protesters say “stop killing women” and police respond with tear gas, the gap between public demand and official response becomes impossible to miss. That is why the arrests drew such forceful condemnation: the issue was not only femicide, but whether peaceful demonstrations about femicide can proceed without being met by force. Kenya’s activists have now linked violence against women and violence against protesters in the same national debate.
The protest therefore became a snapshot of a larger civic struggle. Kenya’s advocates are demanding not just more protection for women, but a different style of policing, one that treats public assembly as a right rather than a threat. Until that changes, every march on femicide risks becoming a test of both policy and restraint.
