After a dramatic day as Kenyans attempted to occupy and block all roads leading to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), more violence and bloodshed followed later in the night as the residents of Kamiti Road endured brutal attacks from the police.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Trouble started when protesters lit bonfires at various Kamiti Road junctions – at the Kahawa West roundabout, under the Northern Bypass flyover, around Small Villa in Githurai 44 and at Base and Mirema in Zimmerman Estate.
For the better part of the afternoon, these bonfires raged on with hundreds of youths staging demos which completely crippled movement along Kamiti Road.
Motorists along the Northern Bypass, from Marurui towards Kahawa West and beyond, were forced to drive through bushy routes in order to connect at around Jacaranda estate and back onto Kamiti Road, towards Kahawa West.
At Githurai 44, the areas around Small Villa and Uncle Sam were impassable with residents closing down their businesses as hundreds gathered for a day of running battles with the police.
At around 6pm, the full force of the police would be witnessed as they patrolled Githurai 44 in their sheer numbers, beating up and arresting protesters and even using live ammunition.
Businesses quickly closed down all across Githurai 44 as police lobbed teargas into homes and kiosks in a bid to flush out protesters who they quickly apprehended and violently beat up in full view of hiding onlookers.
The games continued into the night, with eyewitness, who were recording the proceedings from their balconies, reporting that the police were shooting indiscriminately and stopping young men in their tracks, ordering them to kneel down and then hauling them into their waiting lorries.
Videos recorded by the Githurai 44 residents also show school buses being caught up in the melee as tear gas formed thick clouds which tore through the narrow streets and even into the houses.
Citizen Digital can confirm that many schools around Kamiti Road quickly sent out communication to parents, asking them to immediately collect their children from school.
As the madness raged on, the police numbers swelled, now moving from a handful of vans to several Subarus, all with no number plates.
Videos seen by Citizen Digital show plainclothes police officers patrolling the area around Small Villa, just outside the Untitled Lounge, guns pointed, as protesters scampered for safety up and down the road.
The Subarus would later drive north, towards Zimmerman, as they halted around the Tunners area for more than an hour of showdown and running battles.
As the night kicked in proper, the drama appeared to have shifted from Githurai 44 to Zimmerman, where police poured in their sheer numbers, dreadfully tearing through the estate, firing live rounds and even shooting tear gas directly into apartments.
Zimmerman, a crowded settlement area with lofty apartments and squeezed streets, would now be the new epicentre as the violence took an unprecedented turn, with residents being flushed out of their homes and balconies chocking with tear gas fumes.
Videos circulating online clearly show the shocking extent of the police brutality – at the ground floor of one apartment, a tear gas canister goes off, creating a scary fireball and along the tiny pathways, crowds can be seen screaming and running for safety, with the police firing haphazardly at them.
A young boy is also seen inspecting a bullet, and after he’s told to go back into the house, he says, “Nataka kukaa hapa na Daddy. Nikisikia ‘tah tah tah'”. Clearly, imitating gunshot sounds.
As the videos started pouring onto the internet, especially on X, the names ‘Zimmerman’, ‘Githurai 44’ and ‘Mirema’ started trending.
Quickly, a poster was even released – featuring a clenched fist and the Kenyan flag, it read: “Our hearts bleed with you. Zimmerman.”
One of the most gut-wrenching videos from the night of horror show a number of uniformed police officers running down a dark alley, towards an unarmed resident.
The man, who is stranded at the entrance to his home, can be heard begging for anyone to open the gates for him, his frantic voice betraying his fear of the impending clash.
“Nifungulie, nifungulie mlango nisiuliwe…” he desperately cries out amid loud wails from onlookers.
As the police draw closer to him, one of them opens fire. Twice. The man is immediately silenced.
On X, one person sharing the video simply wrote, “Those were his last words. These words will forever echo in my brain and serve as a constant reminder of the police brutality in Kenya. I can’t sleep.”
As late as midnight, X was still getting flooded with reports of the terror and anguish in Zimmerman, with more videos continuing to show the extent of savagery meted out on the residents.
The scenes, too, are diverse – tear gas smoke billows from the fourth-floor balcony, more tear gas has engulfed the entire floor of a low-budget rental and police can be seen dousing the pink-ish liquid towards residents.
“This is horrific. It’s unacceptable! What crime did the people of Githurai commit? Why always them? What did Kamiti Road people do to deserve this? Why does Ruto hate these people so much? I bleed for my people!” someone on X said.
Also attaching a series of incriminating videos, someone else wrote, “This is not Palestine, Afghanistan or Ukraine. This is KENYA. There’s shootings going on in Zimmerman, Kahawa West, Roysambu and Githurai 44. People in Subaru are shooting and abducting people. You can hear the live bullets!”
On the night of June 25, which has since been baptised as ‘Black Tuesday’, residents of Githurai 45, too, were reported to have endured a hellish night as police, in their full murderous force, descended on the estate and heartlessly terrorised residents for hours on end.
A month later, the government has never publicly commented on the Githurai horrors and, not surprisingly, it has never been made quite clear what actually transpired that night – and who was responsible.
The Zimmerman catastrophe may also go unmetioned, with no repercussions for all officers involved. However, the overwhelming digital evidence will forever stay online and the unspeakable horrors may never leave the rugged streets of Nairobi’s ‘Zimma…CONTINUE READING>>
