Ruto Regime Uses Violence Against Anti-Femicide Protesters on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2024
An article in five sections: 1. Police Crackdowns on the December 10, 2024, Anti-Femicide Protests in Nairobi; 2. How This Journalist and Others Got Teargassed; 3. More Scenes from the Nairobi Anti-Femicide Protests and the Ruto Regime Reactions; 4. No Ruto Regime Violence in Other Counties; 5. Unpacking the Staggering Hypocrisy and Ironies of the Ruto Regime and Its Violence Against Anti-Femicide Protestors in Nairobi.
For earlier reporting about the state of affairs in Kenya under Ruto, see my article series about the #RutoMustGo protests in June and July 2024: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5.
1. Police Crackdowns on the December 10, 2024, Anti-Femicide Protests in Nairobi
For Human Rights Day, which comemorates and celebrates inalienable human rights such as the right to life as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Kenyans across the country had organized anti-femicide protests (see #EndFemicideKE or @Endfemicideke on Twitter/X).
“They are knifed, hacked, shot, strangled. Violence against women knows no borders. Reality is, femicide has escalated to a crisis level in Kenya. […]”
In Nairobi, at least one such anti-femicide protest, for which the organizers had acquired an official permit, was set to begin at 10am at Jeevanjee Gardens in the Nairobi Central Business District (NCBD):
According to one on-the-ground source, the Ruto regime’s security forces already began to arrest protestors since 9:15am however:
Cops then began to teargas all those who had gathered for a prefectly legal and morally just protest in Jevanjee Gardens shortly after 10am:
More footage of that senseless teargassing from other Kenyans, beginning with a 360 degree video (the camera is rotating to the right):
A partial explanation:
Sonia Joy: “[…] The government doesn’t actually believe that femicide is an issue. […]”
2. How This Journalist and Others Got Teargassed
Others and myself also smelled and inhaled the same kind of teargas when we arrived at Jevanjee Gardens shortly afterwards. But the violence-prone and tone-deaf cops were not done with the teargassing quite yet, because when about ten of us — mostly black Kenyan women — huddled in an entrance for protection, the Ruto regime security forces fired more teargas.
One Kenyan women briefly emerged from the entranceway to shout something at the cops along the lines of “Stop killing women.” The tone-deaf Nairobi cops responded by firing a teargas cannister at us which whizzed past my head at a distance of less than a foot. It rebounded from the wall and came to rest directly in front of us, and we all started to choke properly. I suggested to kick the cannister away which a Kenyan woman more to the front promptly did.
Fortunately for us, a building security guard was kind enough to let us rush inside and which we did with a lot of fumbling and coughing and pressing against each other. As fortune would also have it, when I managed to open my by now red eyes, there were water taps directly in front of us which I and others immediately used to wash the stinging teargas from our faces.
We recovered and also had to wait somewhat since the cops were still downstairs for some time. The security guard at some time told us to leave, which we did and could since there was no more teargas or cops occupying the entrance. We then proceeded to a nearby coffeehouse where we met other anti-femicide protestors with which we exchanged information about what they had experienced.
Others noticed a figure with a baseball cap and a laptop who sat in the coffeeshop a huddled manner and who they thought was probably an undercover cop. It is also possible that our internet connection may have been interfered with, perhaps even by that person and his equipment.
3. More Scenes from the Nairobi Anti-Femicide Protests and Ruto Regime Reactions
What had happened or was happening in the meantime in the streets of Nairobi was, for instance, the arrest of Amnesty Kenya’s executive director Irungu Houghton (seen on the right in the white shirt) by a plainclothes cop in their usual attire (e.g. a puffy jacket):
More insane scenes and immoral and illegal actions from the discredited Ruto regime and its henchmen, as captured by Kenyans:
From a longer thread:
A statement by Amnesty International and other Kenyan human rights defenders:
4. No Ruto Regime Violence in Other Counties
The list continues, with others also having documented peaceful protests outside of Nairobi:
5. Unpacking the Staggering Hypocrisy and Ironies of the Ruto Regime and Its Violence Against Anti-Femicide Protestors in Nairobi
It takes some time and effort to unpack the immense ironies of what the Ruto regime did on December 10, 2024 against the anti-femicide protest and protestors in Nairobi.
First, it is ironic as well as telling that all the other counties managed to handle the protest without a completely unnecessary police crackdown and that it was only in Nairobi — the national seat of power of William Ruto — that this violent and (re-)traumatizing abuse of power occurred.
Second, it is also immensely ironic that the Ruto regime and its security forces committed that violent crackdown on women and their human rights on the international Human Rights Day. What this tells us is that they are stupid enough to not even care about appearances.
Third, it is an outright insane irony that the Ruto regime responded to the gender-based violence (GBV) issue of femicide and legitimate and sensible protests against femicide with yet more gender-based violence.
Fourth and relatedly, there are also tear gas-induced health issues for women:
Exposure to tear gas can have various physiological effects, and there is some evidence to suggest that it may affect the menstrual cycle.
Tear gas, which includes compounds such as CS (chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) and CN (chloroacetophenone), is best known for its acute effects on the respiratory system, skin and eyes. However, its effects on reproductive health, including the menstrual cycle, have also been the subject of concern.
When a user posted on X after the demonstrations on Thursday, June 20 that her doctor had advised her that tear gas disrupts the endocrine system, we delved into the research.
“Also, girlies (sic) who have been inhaling tear gas since Tuesday, my doc told me today that it also affects menstrual cycles; if you have extreme uterine cramps, delayed periods or they start early, it could be from all the chemicals you inhaled…” the X user wrote.
Many women responded to the post, saying they had noticed a change in their cycles.
“I tell you, on Tuesday I even said it huku (sic) and when I got home I immediately started bleeding. Kumbe (sic) it’s the chemicals za tear gas. Kwani (sic) how sensitive are some of us?” said another user.Another woman, who was not directly involved in the protests but was caught in the tear gas cloud on her way to work, tells Nation.Africa, said she had also noticed a change in her menstrual cycle.
“My menstrual cycle is always like clockwork, three to three and a half weeks for five days. I had my last period on June 13 and it was a normal cycle. Then, to my shock and horror, I started my period five days later,” she says.
“I was completely shocked because nothing had changed in my life. A lot of the questions in my mind were, was I stressed, anxious, maybe? I am now curious about my cycle as I am due for another cycle next week,” she said.
Dr Dennis Miskellah, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, puts the phenomenon down to prolonged periods of stress.
“Our bodies function through intricate chemical interactions driven by hormones. These hormones not only affect menstrual cycles, but also our moods. Studies have shown that stress can significantly alter a woman’s menstrual pattern,” he explains.
[…]
However, a study published in the journal Frontiers of Epidemiology shows that there is a link between exposure to chemical agents used by police and adverse reproductive health outcomes reported by participants.
These included “uterine cramps (69 per cent), early menstrual bleeding (55 per cent), breast tenderness (30 per cent) and delayed menstrual bleeding (19 per cent),” the study said.
“Number of days exposed to tear gas, history of menstrual stress response, income, hormone use, and region of exposure were significantly associated with reproductive health outcomes related to tear gas exposure,” the study explains.
“Participants with a history of menstrual stress response may have experienced adverse reproductive outcomes due to the stress and trauma of police violence experienced during the protests, regardless of the use of tear gas, which is consistent with the research literature on the reproductive health effects of police violence,” the study adds.
Fifth and relatedly, according to one on the ground source with who I spoke, the Ruto regime security forces at the very least threatened to use live bullets. According to other sources though and even worse, there appears to have been at least one case in which a Ruto regime cop did fire live bullets:
For mentally healthy people, the threat or actual use of live bullets against women in a legal and morally just anti-femicide protest is of course insane. But for Ruto, who at least according to recurring hearsay is a domestic violent abuser, and for cops, who are the number one killers of female partners in Kenya, threatening or committing femicide against women in an anti-femicide protest is just business as usual.
Sixth, Ruto, his wife — ‘Her Holiness Mama’ Rachel Ruto — and other Ruto regime politicians such as the interior cabinet secretary Musalia Mudavadi essentially engaged in empty and meaningless political performances or spectacles (just like in the USA, Britain or my own country Austria): They said something — in this case about allegedly fighting femicide — , but it did not really mean anything:
Seventh, there is the issue of 100 million KSH having ‘disappeared’ for that empty political performance or spectacle:
Eighth, another irony is that especially older Kenyan men seemingly do not even understand the issue at hand:
Ninth, the Ruto regime’s anti-anti-femicide actions are ultimately self-defeating since — following the earlier #RutoMustGo protests — they furthermore confirm that Ruto, other cleptocrats and their minions in the Kenyan security state act contrary to the best interests of Kenyans and that the entire Ruto regime is therefore illegitimate.
Or as the saying goes: “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” The cleptocratic Ruto regime plays stupid games with the best of interests of Kenyans, and — who knows — maybe those at the top will eventually also win ‘stupid prizes’ like Nazi Germany’s Hitler, fascist Italy’s Mussolini or Stalinist Romania’s Ceaușescu one day.
In the meantime, the people’s and especially women’s fight against femicide and other forms of gender-based violence continues.
