Students Fight Back Against Kenyan Police Murder
Featured image: Laikipia University students protest. Source: Joe Mithamo.
Students from Laikipia University protested on Saturday, March 21, blocking sections of the Nyahururu-Nakuru Highway as they demanded accountability from the institution following the death of a fellow student. Brutal repression and clashes followed the protest.
The unrest was triggered by the death of a student who was fatally injured after being struck by a rock during a hiking trip on Friday the 20th of March. The students protested against delays in emergency response. Due do this delay, the student was not attended on time, and passed away. The University refused the accusations, stating that “an ambulance transfer was coordinated for further medical attention, but the student sadly passed away while receiving treatment at the hospital.”
The students did not believe such claims, protested against the murder of the student, and demanded improvements in campus health and emergency services, including ensuring that ambulances and medical personnel are always available during outdoor activities.
As their demands were not heard, the students continued the protests and set up barricades on Monday, confronting the police brutality, showing their anger and paralyzing transport along the Nyahururu-Nakuru Highway for hours. The university was closed indefinitely and police officers were deployed. The bourgeois press claimed that the police officers were using only tear gas and shooting warning shots in the air. The reality is that they fired live ammunition against the protesters, murdering one of them who was shot in the chest, and injuring at least six others.
Despite this murder, the protesters fought back and made the police retreat, as is shown in several images and videos released on social media. At least 16 police officers were injured and two police vehicles were damaged.
After the fierce protests, the Kenyan State’s repressive forces threatened the students: on Monday night they ambushed one of the student hostels, shooting against it, and threatening to kill the students if they continue their protest.
The families of the student murdered and the injured demanded justice and denounced the use of lethal force by the repressive forces. The police brutality in Kenya is well known, as reports estimate that police killings in Kenya increased by 20 percent in 2025, which rose from 104 in 2024 to 125 in 2025. Shootings were identified as the primary method used in police killings, accounting for 114 out of the 125 cases. Despite the brutality of the Kenyan police, the youth do not fear them. Even tough the police had the rifles and they were shooting live ammunition, the will of the struggling youth made the repressive forces retreat, and once more was proved that weapons are not the decisive factor, but people.
