Flags, flowers to mark Gen Z protest day events
National
By
Jacinta Mutura
| Jun 25, 2026
Youth movements, civil society organisations and human rights activists have outlined activities to be held today in memory of Kenyans killed during the June 2024 Gen Z protests and subsequent demonstrations in 2025.
The commemoration marks the second anniversary of the June 25, 2024 protests, during which at least 60 people, most of them young protesters, lost their lives.
Organisers said events will be held across the country, with citizens gathering at locations where demonstrators were killed.
“We all know where our comrades were shot. Kenyans will go to those places carrying flowers and waving the national flag to show love,” one organiser said.
Odhiambo Ojiro, a human rights officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), said participants will carry Kenyan flags, flowers and white handkerchiefs to honour the dead and demand an end to police brutality.
“We are going to walk in peace, raise our flowers as a show of love and take them to relevant police stations to demonstrate that young people have no problem with the police, but are demanding restraint and accountability,” said Ojiro.
He urged participants to carry a flower, a white handkerchief and the national flag.
The organisers urged citizens unable to travel to Nairobi to gather at police stations within their localities, wave the flag and carry flowers.
Religious leaders will lead prayers during the events. The white handkerchief, they said, symbolises a visible commitment to peaceful demonstrations.
Several protesters were killed in Nairobi, including outside Parliament Buildings, on June 25, 2024.
To address challenges in securing accountability for police brutality, organisers said they will deploy body cameras and drones to document events.
Joshua Okayo of the Amuka Changamka youth movement said the technology would provide verifiable evidence of any abuses.
“We have decided to write our own story. We call on young people across the country to livestream events, take pictures, record videos and share them widely,” he said.
Okayo said the initiative would help address the evidence gaps that have hindered accountability efforts since 2024, citing the case of Rex Maasai, the first protest fatality, whose case remains before the courts.
“We will have people with body cameras and drones documenting rogue officers and goons who infiltrate the demonstrations,” he added.
Organisers also advised participants to move in groups and remain in contact with trusted friends or relatives.
Commemorations are planned in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret, while those unable to attend physical events were encouraged to pray from their homes or workplaces.
In each locality, participants have been urged to visit police stations, wave the national flag and lay flowers. Specific meeting points will be announced shortly before the events begin.
James Mulamba warned police officers against excessive use of force and urged them to wear official uniform on June 25. “Otherwise, we may confuse you with the goons, criminals and thugs,” he said.
Mulamba also criticised Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen for remarks suggesting police had exercised restraint by not arresting violent infiltrators.
“You said police exercised restraint in not arresting goons. The same police do not exercise restraint when dealing with unarmed protesters,” he said.
Francis Avena reminded the government that peaceful protests are protected under Article 37 of the Constitution and the Public Order Act, noting that authorities had already been notified.
“We are not asking for permission. We are only asking you to follow the Constitution,” Avena said.
The Inter-Religious Council of Kenya also appealed to demonstrators, organisers and security agencies to uphold peace, dignity and restraint.
“Article 37 of Kenya’s Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to assemble and demonstrate peacefully. This right is sacred and must be exercised and protected,” the council said.