Nairobi shuts down as Kenya police barricade city from protests

Simon Marks, David Herbling, Bloomberg News on Jul 7, 2025

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The streets of downtown Nairobi were deserted and many store fronts were soldered shut as workers and traders stayed away on fears that protests demanding the removal of President William Ruto may turn violent.

Kenyan police had already placed road blocks on all major thoroughfares into the central business district of the capital before daybreak, keeping out thousands of mainly youthful demonstrators that had been expected to rally in the city center.

Monday’s protests are commemorating the pivotal July 7 marches that heralded multi-party democracy for the East African nation 35 years ago. They also follow June 25 demonstrations in which 19 people were killed — some from police bullets — businesses looted and buildings torched.

The latest protests have been sparked by police brutality, after the killing in custody of an online activist. Long-standing grievances stoking anger are the rising cost of living, persistent corruption and wastage of public resources.

According to a recent poll by TIFA Research, 14% of Kenyans believe the nation is heading in the right direction, compared with 37% in early 2023.

“We’ll have an economic protest aimed at hurting the economy and shutting down the city in the future,” said Job Murima, an activist in Thika, 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the capital. “This is aimed at hurting the government and the elite.”

Police had rolls of barbed wire across the roads leading to the president’s official residence, as protesters had threatened to march there.

At a couple of flash points on the outskirts of the city, they used teargas to disburse crowds that lit bonfires.

The upheaval follows last year’s so-called Gen Z protests, in which more than 60 people died over two months. Those were triggered by government plans to introduce tax measures to raise about $2.7 billion for its budget, but quickly morphed into demands for the ouster of Ruto at the end of his term.

Ruto, in the third year of his term, has said his government needs to increase domestic revenue to cut reliance on loans, although the growth of the nation’s debt pile has continued apace to about 11.4 trillion shillings ($88 billion).

“Kenya is a hard nut to crack in terms of getting people subdued,” constitutional lawyer and former governor Kivutha Kibwana told broadcaster NTV. “I wish the government would adopt a different strategy in reaching these young people. You’ll not defeat them by terrorizing them.”