June 25 protests were organised anarchy, not peaceful – Charles Owino
Director General of the National Communications Centre Charles Owino has labelled the Wednesday, June 25, 2025, protest a well-organised anarchy.
Speaking during a live TV interview on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, Owino decried the violence that was meted out on police officers, observing that the protesters were nowhere close to being peaceful.
“What we saw in Nairobi was not a peaceful procession; it was a well-organised anarchy with intentions to cause chaos. These young men had blocked roads and police officers were beaten up,” Owino remarked.
Public order
“It is good to agitate, picket and present petitions. What we are saying is that can we follow the law? Let us do it as per the Public Order Act.”
“We cannot have a country where citizens can beat up a police officer,” Owino noted.
The protests took a violent turn on Wednesday, with the protesters flooding major streets in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) following hours of restriction.
“If it was a proper demonstration with convening officers, who you could talk to and question, then the action where an armed police officer was beaten and taken down while still having his gun, was a justifiable circumstance for that officer to shoot and kill,” Owino said.
Barriers in the city
Razor wires and armed groups of security officers barricaded several roads leading to key government infrastructure.
Parliament Road, where the protesters had planned to lay a wreath of flowers in memory of those killed in the 2024 protest, was cordoned off. Protesters were briefly allowed to leave flowers on the razor before being dispersed.
Similarly, the roads leading to the Supreme Court were equally blockaded, and all the roads leading to the State House had a significant security presence, including police choppers hovering overhead.
A preliminary report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) revealed that eight people had lost their lives, with over 400 being injured countrywide. Among the injured, 83 people were referred for specialised treatment, eight of whom had sustained gunshot wounds.
The KNCHR also stated that at least 61 people were arrested during the protests, with the majority of the detentions occurring in Nairobi.
