Kenyan Women Marching for #EndFemicide Met With Police Violence

"Stop killing women!" protesters chanted as they marched through Nairobi's Central Business District earlier today, Tuesday, only to be confronted by police armed with teargas.

The protest stemmed from a grim reality: a woman is killed every 24 hours in Kenya, a harrowing statistic confirmed by law enforcement. Protesters sought to present their case, emphasizing that police inaction and societal apathy were perpetuating the femicide epidemic.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat reported 97 femicide cases in the last three months alone. Gender-based violence recovery centers, like those at Nairobi Women's Hospital, are inundated with over 4,000 cases monthly.

"It is a crisis, and something definitely needs to be done," says Dr. Sam Thenya, CEO of Nairobi Women’s Hospital. "The economic burden of gender-based violence is enormous on our economy. We must speak against this vice being perpetuated against women and girls. They are our daughters, wives, sisters and mothers."

Amnesty International strongly condemned the police's violent response to the protests in a statement released today. The organization's executive director, Houghton Irungu, was among those arrested. It is not clear how many demonstrators were taken into police custody.

"On this International Human Rights Day, dedicated to celebrating and upholding the dignity, freedom, and rights of all people, we witnessed a grave violation of these very principles," Amnesty said.

The government has pledged to roll out a national awareness campaign focused on prevention, support systems, and data collection to better address the root causes of gender-based violence. President William Ruto has also vowed to bolster law enforcement capabilities, promising "to equip our police to deal with this challenge."