Global outrage is mounting after CNN International Correspondent Larry Madowo exposed a disturbing incident of police brutality in Nairobi, where Kenyan youth protesting peacefully were cornered in an alley, beaten and tear-gassed by anti-riot police.
The incident, captured on chilling video and shared by Madowo shortly after the attack on his verified platforms, unfolded during Monday’s Memorial Day protest—a day meant to honor victims of past police violence.
The footage shows riot police driving demonstrators into a blocked alley with no escape. The young protesters, many in their early 20s, are seen kneeling with their hands raised, pleading for mercy. One cries out in Swahili, “Larry ukienda tutauliwa!” — “Larry, if you leave, we’ll get killed!”
Seconds later, a police officer violently throws a tear gas canister into the already choked alley. Screams erupt as the canister explodes at their feet, flooding the tight space with smoke. Some youth collapse to the ground, others cough uncontrollably, their backs turned as batons strike mercilessly.
One officer is seen whipping a young woman as she lies motionless, while another kicks a protester clinging to a wall for support. The police — outnumbering the trapped youth — laugh and taunt as they carry out the attack.
Larry Madowo, who was on the ground covering the protest, called the incident “a coordinated assault on unarmed youth who posed no threat.” His post of the video went viral within minutes and igniting global condemnation.
“This wasn’t crowd control,” Madowo said in his voiceover. “This was punishment.”
The irony is stark: the Memorial Day protest was meant to denounce police brutality. Instead, it became a real-time case study in the very violence it sought to challenge.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, have demanded swift accountability. Civil society groups and student unions have also called for an independent investigation into what they now describe as a “state-led terror on youth.”
In the aftermath, many protesters remain in hiding, nursing wounds and fear. “We were just students,” said one survivor. “All we wanted was justice for those killed. Now we’ve seen the system wants more blood.”
