BBC News Africa has announced the upcoming release of a documentary that promises to reveal the identities of those responsible for the deaths during the June 2024 Gen Z protests in Kenya.
The protests, led primarily by the country’s youth, erupted in response to controversial government policies, resulting in violent clashes and numerous casualties.
Titled Unmasked: The Truth Behind the Gen Z Protests, the documentary aims to shed light on the individuals and entities behind the killings, drawing from extensive investigations, eyewitness accounts, and previously unreleased footage.
BBC News Africa stated that the film will premiere next month, sparking widespread anticipation among activists and the public.
BBC June 2024 Gen Z Protests Documentary
The June 2024 protests drew global attention, with human rights organizations calling for accountability.
Kenyan authorities have faced criticism for their handling of the unrest, and this documentary is expected to intensify pressure for justice.
The Gen Z protests in Kenya, which erupted in June 2024, marked a significant moment in the country’s political landscape, driven primarily by young Kenyans born between the late 1990s and early 2010s.
These protests, initially sparked by opposition to the controversial Finance Bill 2024, quickly evolved into a broader movement against systemic issues like corruption, unemployment, and governance failures.
The protests began on June 18, 2024, following the public release of the Finance Bill, which proposed tax hikes on essentials like bread, mobile money transfers, and menstrual products to raise $2.7 billion and reduce Kenya’s debt burden.
Young Kenyans, feeling overburdened by an already high cost of living, mobilized through social media platforms like TikTok and X, using hashtags such as #RejectFinanceBill2024 and #OccupyParliament.
Unlike previous protests often tied to political parties or ethnic divisions, this movement was leaderless, organic, and united across societal fault lines, focusing on shared economic grievances.
Demonstrations started peacefully but turned deadly as police responded with force. On June 20, Rex Kanyike Masai, a young protester, was fatally shot in Nairobi, with an autopsy revealing death due to excessive bleeding.
By June 25, when protesters stormed Parliament and set part of it ablaze after the bill’s passage, at least 13 people were killed nationwide, according to a doctors’ association.
Reports indicate that over 50 deaths occurred throughout the protests, alongside abductions and arbitrary arrests, with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights documenting 32 abductions by August 2024. Police used tear gas, water cannons, and live bullets, drawing widespread condemnation for brutality.
The protesters’ demands escalated beyond the bill’s rejection—achieved on June 26 when President William Ruto withdrew it—to calls for Ruto’s resignation, encapsulated in the hashtag #RutoMustGo.
They also highlighted deeper issues: unemployment (affecting 67% of youth), corruption, and the lavish lifestyles of politicians amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Gen Z’s tactics were innovative, including translating the bill into local languages, creating music and videos to spread their message, and even using AI tools like ChatGPT to educate the public.
They also spammed MPs’ phones with messages, with one legislator reporting over 30,000 texts urging rejection of the bill.
The government’s response was mixed. Ruto initially labeled protesters as “criminals” and “treasonous” but later sacked his cabinet, dissolved state firms, and saw the police chief resign.
However, reappointing some cabinet members and failing to address core demands fueled further unrest. Protests continued into July, with some infiltrated by criminals, leading to looting and property destruction, which authorities used to discredit the movement.
