Ignore claim that police officer who lost forearms in Kenya's Gen Z-led protests in June 2024 is dead
IN SHORT: The much-viewed X post claims that the officer, who was injured by an exploding tear gas canister, is dead. This is not true - he is recovering in hospital.
"The cop who blew his hand off has died while receiving treatment." This is the claim in an 18 June 2024 post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The post has received over 560,000 views, 2,000 reposts, and 8,000 likes. A sample of the over 900 comments suggests that many believe the tweet to be accurate.
On 18 June, groups of young people took to the streets of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to peacefully protest against the proposed 2024 Finance Bill.
The protests, dubbed "Occupy Parliament", were organised largely through social media by young Kenyans opposed to the taxes proposed in the bill.
Some of the most controversial taxes included those on bread, vegetable oil, internet and mobile money transactions, which were seen as increasing the cost of living. In addition, the proposed eco-tax was criticised as experts said it would increase the price of essential products such as sanitary towels and diapers.
Amid the protests, the ruling coalition, Kenya Kwanza, announced that it would drop several taxes. But many protesters wanted the entire bill rejected, not amended, as the even larger protests on 20 June showed.
The protests were organic, with no political party affiliations. They were a translation of discontent from social media to the streets. The protesters were peaceful and well organised, holding signs and chanting together to get their message across. They documented and streamed the protests online.
Police responded by cordoning off areas of the city and confronting peaceful demonstrators with a water cannon and tear gas. Two people were killed and more than 200 demonstrators were arrested.
A police officer was captured on video holding a tear gas canister, seemingly about to fire it at a group of protesters, when it exploded in his hands, blowing off both his forearms. The clip quickly went viral online.
The tweet in question, posted later that day, claims that this officer has died. But is this claim true? We checked.
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No reliable news reports
A search of this incident reveals no credible information to support the claim that the officer died. Given the extensive coverage of this incident, news of the officer's death would have been immediately reported and made headlines.
Instead, several articles and videos show that the officer is recovering in Nairobi West Hospital.
One of the articles reports on the member of parliament for Embakasi East constituency in Nairobi visiting the officer in hospital on 19 June. Another video shows the minister of tourism and wildlife visiting and comforting the same officer in hospital on 20 June.
Despite losing both forearms, the officer is in stable condition and appears to be in good spirits, as shown in this video of him talking about the incident.
This evidence proves that the officer is in stable condition, recovering in hospital, and not dead as the X post claimed.
