KISERIAN, Kenya — Smoke, shouts, and standoffs filled the streets of Kiserian on Monday as anti-riot police clashed with protesters during #SabaSaba2025 demonstrations — in a growing wave of GenZ led unrest sweeping across Kenya.
In a video seen by Y News, burning tyres lit up the tarmac, protesters chanted slogans, and police fired rounds of teargas into the air, turning the town into a battlefield of running chaos.
The white clouds of gas filled the streets as young demonstrators scattered between buildings.
It’s a scene that’s becoming all too familiar.
As in Nairobi CBD, where dozens of major roads were shut down under heavy police presence, and Mombasa, where officers took over the central business district before dawn, Kiserian has now joined the list of flashpoints in this year’s defiant Saba Saba.
But unlike the capital, where roadblocks were set up by police despite a court order barring them, Kiserian’s resistance came from the ground up.
And it wasn’t just noise. It was a direct message to a government that many young Kenyans believe has stopped listening.
The Gen Z movement, once confined to hashtags and livestreams, is now in full swing on the streets — from estates to highways, from CBDs to county towns like Kiserian.
Earlier today, police in Nairobi blocked more than 16 major roads and Kenya Railways canceled commuter trains, actions widely seen as deliberate attempts to keep demonstrators out of the city center.
In Wote Town, Makueni, protesters lit bonfires and barricaded roads with stones. Now, Kiserian joins the map — and it’s not going quietly.
What began as a commemoration of Kenya’s 1990 push for multiparty democracy has evolved into a generational fight for justice, accountability, and space to speak out.
And if this morning’s developments are anything to go by, Gen Z isn’t asking for space — they’re taking it.
