Ruto told police to shoot violent protesters in the legs

On 9 July 2025, President William Ruto (opens in a new tab) told Kenyan police to shoot in the legs people he described as violent protesters who vandalized or looted property. His instruction came two days after the deadly Saba Saba demonstrations and explicitly presented gunfire as a way to incapacitate suspected offenders without killing them.

What happened?

AP, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported Ruto's statement as he responded to unrest that had produced deaths, injuries and property destruction. He told police not to kill innocent people but said those who destroyed businesses or attacked others should be shot in the legs and taken to hospital. The remarks followed public anger over protest policing and a series of demonstrations in which security forces had already faced allegations of excessive and lethal force.

Ruto's defence was that the instruction distinguished violent offenders from peaceful citizens and sought to stop killing while protecting property and public safety. The contradiction is in the method: telling police to deliberately shoot a person as a form of incapacitation or punishment creates a serious risk of unlawful force, even when the stated aim is to avoid death.

Who is responsible?

Responsibility for the instruction is direct because Ruto made it publicly in his capacity as president. That does not prove that a later shooting occurred because of his words. Any individual police use of a firearm still requires evidence about the officer, threat faced, necessity and proportionality.

Police commanders also retain duties under Kenyan law and international standards; a political instruction cannot make otherwise unlawful force lawful. The statement therefore matters as presidential guidance to the security apparatus rather than as automatic proof about every subsequent incident.

What is established and what is not?

The wording and date of Ruto's instruction are established across multiple major outlets. It is also established that the statement came after deadly nationwide protests and amid criticism of the security response. The president simultaneously told police not to kill innocent civilians, which is the strongest limiting language in his remarks.

It is not established by the speech alone that officers implemented a systematic shoot-in-the-legs policy or that a named later casualty resulted from the instruction. The verified accountability issue is the public endorsement of firearm use against a category of protesters defined by alleged conduct. That can influence policing norms even before a causal link to an individual shooting is proven.