EXCLUSIVE: Resident's Account Of Tuesday Events At Zimmerman Featuring Gunshots, Looting

Several netizens in the night raised alarm about the repeat of the alleged Githurai massacre finding its way to the two residences

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Jul 24, 2024 - 20:13
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EXCLUSIVE: Resident's Account Of Tuesday Events At Zimmerman Featuring Gunshots, Looting
Photo collage of teargas at a residence (left) and police officers patrolling Zimmerman, Nairobi on July 24, 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE

Following failed attempts by protesters to occupy the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Tuesday, July 24, reports emerged on social media of police officers descending on residents of Kamiti Road which serves popular estates such as Zimmerman and Githurai 44.

Several netizens in the night raised alarm about the repeat of the alleged Githurai massacre finding its way to the two residences, claims they backed with numerous videos depicting gunshots ringing in the air and young men being stopped in their tracks by police who ordered them to surrender before bundling them into waiting lorries.

The reports, particularly on X, caught Viral Tea's attention, and in a real-time fashion, prompted a fact-finding mission through the digital space.

We attempted to reach out to residents who might have had an idea of the true account of events that transpired, though the ones we reached out to were unresponsive, some recommending to wait until morning to get the real picture, but this was also not forthcoming by the time of publishing this article.

Finally, we got a lady resident who resides in Githurai 44, not far from Zimmerman, who gave us an extensive account of the events culminating in the chaos witnessed around the residential area:

A police officer stepping out of a vehicle. /FILE

How It Began

Per her account, protesters had emerged from Githurai 45 to the 44 section through a connecting route and began to light up bonfires at various Kamiti Road junctions - at the Kahawa West roundabout, under the Northern Bypass flyover, around Small Villa in Githurai 44 and at Base and Mirema in Zimmerman Estate.

From around 2 pm, the bonfires left police with a tough task on their hands in putting them out, but more kept coming, leading to a back and forth coupled with teargas and gunshots, with hundreds of youth staging demos to the point of crippling movement of traffic along Kamiti Road.

The back and forth continued until 7 pm, and between then, the majority of the attention was focused on events at JKIA and along Outering Road where security forces were doing everything to prevent protesters from 'occupying' the country's biggest airport.

Motorists along the Northern Bypass, from Marurui towards Kahawa West and beyond, were diverted to bushy routes in order to connect around Jacaranda estate and back onto Kamiti Road, towards Kahawa West.

At Githurai 44, the areas around Small Villa and Uncle Sam were impassable with residents closing down their businesses as hundreds gathered for a day of running battles with the police.

The duel, the resident adds, was so bad that residents were unable to leave their homes owing to incessant smoke coming from teargas being lobbed by police to quell the protests. There were gunshots heard but from her view, they weren't being directed at people despite a section of videos showing otherwise.

"Tear gas definitely and shots but they were shooting upwards, didn't see police directing shots at people, but there is a different video showing otherwise," she tells Viral Tea.

The Goons

She added that she was unsure if they were peaceful protestors because they lit many fires, blocked roads and robbed a shop in the afternoon when she saw the events unfold, but rumours had it that they were goons coming from Githurai 45.

The resident further told us that the goons roamed Kamiti Road and ransacked a shop as she saw with her own eyes, a confirmation that the goons had infiltrated the protests. It is not clear how they came to do so, or rather if they were under instructions from someone.

A fleet of Subaru vehicles along Kamiti Road on July 23, 2024. /TIKTOK

As the madness continued, the police numbers grew, now moving from a handful of vans to several Subarus, all with no number plates. A video seen by Viral Tea showed a fleet of Subarus along the busy road, with other clips depicting plainclothes police officers patrolling the area around Small Villa, just outside the Untitled Lounge, guns pointed, as protesters scampered for safety up and down the road.

The Subarus would later drive north, towards Zimmerman, as they halted around the Tunners area for more than an hour of showdown and running battles.

At around 6 pm, the brute force that characterized events of the day intensified as the protesters set more tyres alight and blocked roads with stones, police continuing to clear the roads and put out the fires. Githurai 44 would soon be turned into a scene of madness, with police reportedly going around and beating up protesters as well as arresting them.

Businesses quickly closed down all across Githurai 44 as police lobbed teargas into homes and kiosks in a bid to flush out protesters who they quickly apprehended and violently beat up in full view of hiding onlookers.

The Night

The games continued into the night, with eyewitnesses, who were recording the proceedings from their balconies, reporting that the police were shooting indiscriminately and stopping young men in their tracks, ordering them to kneel down and then hauling them into their waiting lorries.

As the night kicked in proper, the drama had appeared to have shifted from Githurai 44 to Zimmerman, where police raided the area in their sheer numbers, firing live rounds and even shooting tear gas directly into apartments.

Zimmerman, a crowded settlement area with lofty apartments and squeezed streets, would now be the new epicentre as the violence took an unprecedented turn, with residents being flushed out of their homes and balconies chocking with tear gas fumes.

Videos recorded by the Githurai 44 residents also showed school buses being caught up in the melee as tear gas formed thick clouds which tore through the narrow streets and even into the houses.

We showed the lady resident a disturbing video posted on X showing a number of police officers running down a dark alley, heading for an unarmed resident. The man, who was stranded at the entrance to his home, can be heard begging for anyone to open the gates for him, his frantic voice betraying his fear of the impending clash, desperately crying "Nifungulie, nifungulie mlango nisiuliwe (open the door for me so that they don't kill me)..." amid loud wails from onlookers. 

The cops drew closer to him, barking orders before discharging the firearm. The man's voice went silent. One X person wrote "Those were his last words. These words will forever echo in my brain and serve as a constant reminder of the police brutality in Kenya. I can't sleep," alleging that the police may have shot dead the man.

The resident responded to us by hinting that the police officer might have fired his weapon aimlessly in a bid to scare residents out of the house to get back home. A close examination of the video showed the gunshot being discharged slightly upwards, compared to directly at the individual which would have required precise focus at close range.

Towards midnight, the reports of the terror and anguish at Zimmerman had become full-blown with more videos continuing to show the extent of savagery meted out on the residents.

The scenes, too, were diverse - tear gas smoke billowed from the fourth-floor balcony, more tear gas engulfed the entire floor of a low-budget rental and police was seen dousing the pink-dyed water from their water cannons towards residents and a vehicle which was presumed to be earlier torched by the protesters in the middle of the road.

Another clip shared by CNN journalist Larry Madowo showed police surrounding a car wash at Githurai 44 and assaulting its owner and the staffers who took off, leaving the owner at the mercy of the officers. “They were not protesting, had no stones and had not looted anything. They were just sitting, waiting for customers," Madowo quoted a source aware of the incident.

Fact-Check

The woman resident then pointed us to an Instagram post claiming that police were also robbing people of their phones for fear of being recorded, clarifying that those were goons. "Protestors almost threw stones at me and cousins for standing with phones at the balcony...but media says police are the ones stealing...wrong info going around," she adds.

"If they were peaceful protestors they would have no issue if we create awareness, so those were goons."

She adds that the protests along Kamiti Road or even occupying the road were unplanned and that the officers were merely shooting upward to scare residents while clearing the road for resumption of traffic.

Additionally, posters reading "Our hearts bleed with you Zimmerman" started flooding Instagram timelines, shared by a section of prominent social media personalities. However, they were quickly fact-checked by residents of the area in the comment section denying any alleged massacre and affirming the woman's account of goons breaking into shops.

Police Stance

Much later, the lady's sentiments would be vindicated as Acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja revealed on Wednesday that goons were hired to cause chaos during protests in various parts of Nairobi on July 23, 2024. Kanja indicated that they were hired from other parts of the country to cause chaos in the affected areas.

“However, a few skirmishes were witnessed in Nairobi CBD around Kimathi Street, Archives, North Airport Road, Pipeline area, Roysambu, and Kakamega Town. Our preliminary investigations indicate that some goons disguising as protestors were hired from elsewhere to cause chaos in some of the affected areas where looting and destruction of property were witnessed,” read a statement in part.

The acting IG assured the public that the investigations on the goons would be speedy and the perpetrators would be brought to book. However, the police boss has yet to comment exactly on the events that transpired in Zimmerman and Githurai 44.

Githurai 45, as you would recall, was also in the headlines on June 25, with reports of residents enduring terror as police descended on the residential area and discharged gunshots for hours on end.

Screengrab of police officers in Githurai on June 25, 2024. /BBC

A police report seen by Viral Tea from the Githurai-Mwiki Police Station had however indicated that a protest that began peacefully turned riotous when an alleged group of about 6,000 became violent and lit a bonfire on a road in the area.

"Police officers led by the sub-county commander tried to negotiate with them to peaceably disperse but they refused and started pelting the officers with stones. A proclamation was read by the sub-county commander but they did not disperse instead turned very violent," stated the report filed under OB Number 46/25/06/2024 at 9.15 pm.

The police added that teargas was fired at the protesters but they overpowered the officers forcing them to withdraw. What followed, according to the police, was more violence that saw their Land Cruiser vandalised and torched, as the protesters followed them to the police station and surrounded two other stations.

In the process, 20 officers suffered injuries to their limbs, were rushed to various hospitals, and released in fair condition. "During the demonstration, 740 blanks and rounds of spent cartridges and more than 700 pieces of teargas canisters were used to disperse the violent rioters," the statement added.

Further, an independent investigation done by BBC found no evidence of mass killings in Githurai, raising questions about how readily misinformation can spread amid a crisis. A human rights advocate who lives and works in Githurai told investigations platform Africa Uncensored that the reports of a massacre were untrue.

Even though BBC's fact-finding mission was referenced by President William Ruto during a televised interview at State House on June 30, the government has never publicly commented on the Githurai horrors and it has never been made quite clear what actually transpired that night - and who was responsible.

The events at Zimmerman and Githurai 44 might also go unmentioned, with no repercussions of officers involved, nor any casualties or fatalities confirmed as of yet, though digital evidence suggests that the night of July 23 is one that residents of Nairobi's 'Zimma' will never forget.

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