Nairobi Street Demonstrations: Chaos or Political Progress?

One headline in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper yesterday read “Chaos as Varsity Students Stage Street Protests.” My experience with the protests on Tuesday was very different.

Last week, two prominent political activists were shot dead while waiting at a stoplight near the University of Nairobi. Several students pushed the car into the school’s compound to keep the police from taking the bodies, and a student was shot and killed in the resulting skirmish.

In response, a group of students organized a demonstration this week to protest the violent act and demand the resignation of Kenya’s police chief, Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali. Prime Minister Raila Odinga publicly recognized the protest and called for the police force not to intervene, saying that the proper authorities had been notified and that intervention would be a disruption of the political process.

On Tuesday, the large group of students walked through the central section of Nairobi and protested in several locations, including on the street in front of the president’s offices and outside media headquarters. Indeed, they carried this out with no hassle from the police or the government. 

However, as I rode past the business district in a matatu a few hours later, some outsiders had joined the demonstration and were looting local restaurants and businesses. This continued as I walked through town for a lunch meeting and traveled to the slums to watch a group perform a play about acceptance and coexistence.  Several roads were closed for some time and there was fear of escalation, but the police got everything under control quickly and without violence or injury.

After talking with many Kenyans, I believe Tuesday’s events represent an important and positive step for tolerance in Kenyan politics. The fact that the government and police did not intervene until absolutely necessary is substantial in a country devastated by election violence that killed thousands of people just over a year ago. According to a staff member at my former study abroad program, this kind of peaceful protest was simply unimaginable until today. While there were certainly chaotic elements to the demonstration, I think the Daily Nation’s headline is simply pandering to society’s general sensationalism, and ultimately missed the bigger picture.