As Police Constable Emily Kinya lay bleeding on the pavement, with angry chants of “Let’s kill her” echoing around her, one thought consumed her: her children.
In that terrifying moment, she feared her children would grow up motherless—not because of a criminal’s bullet, but at the hands of the very people she swore to protect.
Kinya, who has served in the National Police Service since 2013, was among the officers deployed to manage crowds along Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi during the June 25 demonstrations marking the first anniversary of last year’s anti-government protests.
What began as a peaceful gathering quickly turned violent.
A viral video captured the moment Kinya, alongside other unarmed officers, attempted to flee. She stumbled and fell, and the crowd caught up with her.
“The protesters overwhelmed us,” she recalled in an interview from her hospital bed.
“As we were withdrawing, I got hit on the foot and fell. That’s when they caught up with me.”
Some in the crowd pleaded for mercy. Others urged brutality.
“Some tried to protect me, but others kept hitting me and shouting, ‘Let’s kill her. They’ve killed one of us,’” she said, her voice heavy with emotion.
The officer, a mother of two, suffered a head injury and a foot wound. Her phone and police gear were stolen. She described the ordeal as deeply traumatizing—not just for her, but for her young family.
“My children are still shaken. We are human beings too. Our lives matter,” she said.
Though the beating stopped when a few protesters placed her into an ambulance, the emotional scars, she said, will take far longer to heal.
“It was a short moment, but it felt endless. You can’t even explain what really happened—it was ugly and heartbreaking,” she added.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen condemned the attack on Kinya, warning that targeting police officers would not be tolerated. He urged law enforcement to defend themselves when under threat.
“When someone comes to the police station and wants to take over the government’s office, the police gun, and your life—shoot him,” Murkomen said while addressing officers.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has since reported that at least 19 people were killed across the country during the June 25 protests. The Commission also documented four rape cases—two individual and two gang rapes—as well as one attempted gang rape. It remains unclear in which counties the sexual violence incidents occurred.
The protests, which took place in over 20 counties, have reignited national debate on police accountability, citizen conduct, and the heavy emotional toll borne by officers like Emily Kinya, caught between duty and danger.
