We treated protesters with bullet and stab wounds to their faces and limbs, unconscious pregnant women, one sexually assaulted- Dr Wala Amakove, Beyond the Stethoscope
Don Wilson Odhiambo, a documentary photographer, was covering the first anniversary of the June 25, 2024, anti-government protests in Nairobi which saw thousands of young people taking to the streets two weeks ago. Over 60 demonstrators died last year.
As he tried to get the best shots, Odhiambo inhaled copious amounts of teargas besides witnessing many protestors getting injured.
He told Willow Health how when the water cannon was spraying protesters, he took cover behind a metal pole and started taking photos of the truck spraying water cannons to protesters.
“I just felt pressure on my back. And then that’s when I hit my head, you know, started bleeding. I realized that I had injured my arm on one of the pillars by the roadside. And the pressure was too much,” said Odhiambo.
By the time police water cannons, gunshots, flashbangs, screams and protest chants went silent late in the night, eight people lay dead, five through police brutality. Over 400 were injured, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
Families that lost their loved ones may never be the same again while protestors who sustained injuries will have lasting and painful reminders. Indeed, public protests have a bigger impact on health than often reported.
Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly while the African Union (AU) and the United Nations have declarations safeguarding peaceful protests.
In addition to excessive use of force with guns, batons and even whips, other crowd-control measures include teargas and water cannons
Additionally, the Open Society Justice Initiative Foundation and the Committee on the Administration of Justice outline principles and guidelines on protests and the right to information besides conditions under which protest dispersal or arrests are justified and situations for acceptable use of force.
Despite these laws, declarations and guidelines, death and injuries in protests in Kenya are inevitable due to the excessive use of force to quell and suppress them. In addition to excessive use of force by the police with their guns, batons and even whips, other crowd-control measures including teargas and water cannons have been known to cause injury in the melee caused by the lobbing of tear gas and the loud explosions and huge plumes of white and orange smoke that follow as protesters scampered to safety. These scenes are now familiar throughout most protests and demos.
Dr Wala Amakove, a medical doctor and founder of Beyond the Stethoscope, led a team of 50 medics in running a clinic which offered “first response care to over 500 casualties” from its base along Kigali Road in the Nairobi CBD.
Says Dr Wala: “We set up a medical facility within the Nairobi CBD to offer care, first response care for anyone who’s injured, both whether it’s a protester, a bystander, the police.”
Her team of volunteer medics referred 89 cases to Kenyatta National Hospital and worked in partnership with the Medical Association, the Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU), Defenders Coalition, Amnesty International and Medics for Kenya.
“We had fractures, people were stabbed, we had people with bullet wounds even to their faces, their hands, limbs were blasted out”
Despite notifying the government and getting the green light, the clinic was teargassed, endangering patients and medics.
Dr Amakove recalls the team treated “eight live bullet wounds and the rest were rubber bullet wounds. We had fractures, people were stabbed, we had people with bullet wounds even to their faces, their hands, limbs were blasted out. It was just not nice.”
She said that there were three unconscious pregnant women, one sexually assaulted and others “collapsed from the sheer shock of being in those situations.”
Other victims were from water cannon injuries, most of whom came in “All soggy and shivering. We had journalists who were injured with rubber bullets just by being in the crossfire,” says Dr Amakove.
The use of teargas, while not new in Kenya, is banned for use in war. The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in war. In Kenya, the use of teargas was banned last year by a Malindi court, but the police have never stopped using them.
A 2023 study listed three main types of tear gas with CS gas as the most widely used, then the older CN gas and OC (pepper spray) CS and CN are synthetic chemicals with compounds chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile and chloroacetophenone, respectively which makes the eyes water.
A project by International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) titled, Lethal in Disguise, states that the health effects of chemical irritants are highly dependent on the chemical of exposure, the dose, the conditions of exposure, the deployment mechanism, and the individual’s risk factors and access to egress and care.
According to Thraets, teargas causes “temporary incapacitation by irritating the eyes, respiratory system, and skin”
Dr Amakove explains tear gas is “intended to harm” and prolonged exposure to tear gas has immediate effects and other effects but it “Also depends on whether you have underlying conditions, especially those who are asthmatic or have allergies. Then they react even worse.”
According to Thraets, an investigative platform that tracks and tackles digital threats against democracy, teargas causes “temporary incapacitation by irritating the eyes, respiratory system, and skin.”
One study found that “the use of tear gas during protests causes involuntary exposure, which increases the burden of diseases for local public health organizations/facilities.”
Dr Amakove warns that gas lingers longer in the air and clothes and people should be “in spaces where air is circulating easily. And if you’re prone to allergies, then avoid those areas.”
Water cannons can be thought of as harmless but Lethal in disguise stated that “high-pressure water can cause both direct injuries, such as trauma directly to the body, and internal injuries from the force of the water stream.”
By the time the water canon was done with him, Odhiambo had lost his camera, suffered injuries to his face, ribs, and left arm.
Following the June 25 protests in Kenya last year, Thraets investigated and reported that the country imports teargas from Israel and whose continued use “not only affects public health but also influences the dynamics of civil unrest and state responses.”
