Effective methods that helped Gen Z curb police brutality during protests

The protesters, drawn mostly from Kenya’s Generation Y (Millennials) and Z, make a point of documenting their every step on social media. They attend the protests with their phones and go live on their Tiktok and Instagram pages on location.

Such strategies have worked to deter the police from their usual heavy-handedness. A police officer who had brutalised a now deceased protester, hurting him in his genitals, retreated when cameras descended on him.

Another, captured flogging a protester, concealed his face when he realised the spotlight was on him. An officer who had confronted a woman, was silenced by phones pointed in his direction. Similarly, one of the officers was subdued when a young woman shoved him during Thursday’s protests. 

In many ways, documenting atrocities should make it easier to bring overbearing officers to book and highlight the infringements to their rights to protest. It also works to force investigative agencies, known to drag their feet, into action.

Ipoa is banking on this documentation to nab Rex’s killer, calling on witnesses to come forth and help solve the killing.

Previously, the traditional media played the role of deterring brutality, but their limited reach pales in comparison to that achieved through social media this past week. For that reason, journalists have often been soft targets of rogue officers, who have gone on to unleash cruelty on the masses after dimming the media’s glare.

This strategy has not worked against the young men and women who took to the streets to oppose the Finance Bill, owing to the sheer number of persons documenting whatever atrocities that may occur.

On a day-long X space attended by more than 50,000 Kenyans, the young Kenyans vowed to keep documenting their steps. They vowed to keep tweeting, saying it kept their arrested colleagues alive.