Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – “The situation in Nairobi is tense. There are roadblocks everywhere and shops are closed. Young protesters have taken to the streets, while the police have erected barricades along the roads leading to the center of Nairobi,” Fr. Bonaventura Luchidio told Fides. The National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Kenya is referring to today’s demonstration in memory of the victims of last year’s demonstrations against the finance law (see Fides, 21/6/2024, 25/6/2025, and 26/6/2024), which left more than 60 dead and 300 injured.On the eve of the demonstration, the Kenyan bishops issued a joint appeal to the authorities and the demonstrators, calling for peace and the protection of life (see Fides, 24/6/2025).This appeal, according to Father Luchidio, is all the more necessary given that, as emphasized, “there have been some serious incidents recently that are further worsening the mood among young people. In particular, the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in a security cell at the Nairobi police station and the close-range shooting at a previous demonstration of young Boniface Kariuki, who is still fighting for his life in the hospital.” “Added to this is the death of two Catholic priests under unclear circumstances,” says the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, citing the murder of Father Alloyce Cheruiyot Bett, who was shot dead on May 22 in the Tot (Elgeyo Marakwet) area of the Kerio Valley in the western highlands of Kenya (see Fides, 23/05/2025), and Father John Ndegwa Maina, parish priest of St. Louis Church in Igwamiti, who died in hospital on May 15 after being found seriously injured on the side of the Nakuru-Nairobi highway, several kilometers from his parish (see Fides, 21/5/2025). “The bishops have called for a rapid investigation to bring those responsible for the deaths of the two priests to justice, but at the moment there is no further information on the two cases,” Father Luchidio concludes.In addition to the capital Nairobi, clashes have also been reported in other Kenyan cities. Police are using tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/6/2025)
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