Police tear gas and arrest protesters at France-Africa counter summit in Nairobi

Nicholas Mwangi

20 May 2026

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Protesters in Nairobi on May 12, 2026 against the France-Africa Summit. Photo: PASAI

Organizers, activists, intellectuals, and international delegates were arrested in Nairobi during an anti-imperialist protest against the France–Africa Summit, which critics have described as an attempt at imperialist repositioning in East Africa.

Originally published in People's Dispatch.

Kenyan police brutally repressed a protest in Nairobi on May 12 against the ongoing France-Africa Summit, which progressive groups from Kenya and the African continent have described as an imperialist maneuver aimed at reasserting French influence on the African continent. The France-Africa summit was presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto.

Tuesday’s protest marked the culmination of a two-day counter-summit organized in opposition to the official “Africa Forward Summit”, bringing together activists, intellectuals, trade unionists, students, and anti-imperialist organizers from Kenya and internationally. Participants at the Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism criticized the role of France in Africa, raising concerns around militarization, economic domination, debt dependency, resource extraction, and continued neo-colonial influence across the continent.

According to preliminary reports, 13 people were arrested in the May 12 protest, including international delegates from Greece, South Korea, Britain, and France, as well as eight activists from Kenya. The peaceful procession was also attacked by police with tear gas and protesters were blocked from advancing to the Dedan Kimathi statue in the center of the capital. Notably, Dedan Kimathi is recognized as an anti-colonial hero in Kenya for his role leading the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau) to fight against British colonial rule. Kimathi was executed by the British colonial government in 1957, six years before Kenya won independence from Britain.

The arrests on May 12 followed an earlier incident on the previous day in which five members of the Revolutionary Student Commission, the student wing of the Communist Party Marxist – Kenya, were arrested while protesting against the Africa Forward Summit yesterday. The students spent the night at Central Police Station in Nairobi and have not been released yet.

Communist Party Marxist – Kenya condemns arrests

In a statement released following the arrests on May 12, the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party Marxist – Kenya condemned what it described as intimidation, harassment, and repression by the Kenyan state against anti-imperialist activists and international delegates attending the counter-summit.

The party accused the government of acting in defense of imperialist interests and criminalizing anti-imperialist solidarity, stating that the arrests reveal “the true character of the Ruto regime as a neocolonial and comprador administration acting in defense of imperialist interests against the democratic rights of the people.”

The statement further noted that among those arrested were international activists, intellectuals, and organizers who had traveled to Nairobi in solidarity with African struggles against imperialism and neocolonialism.

“Their only crime is standing with the oppressed. Their only crime is rejecting imperialist domination. Their only crime is declaring that Africa is not for sale,” the statement read.

The organization linked the arrests to a pattern of political repression in Kenya historically and contemporarily in what has become the norm.

The Communist Party Marxist – Kenya has demanded:

The immediate and unconditional release of all arrested comrades.
An end to police harassment, abductions and repression against activists, organizers and progressive movements.
The immediate halt to all imperialist military, political and economic agreements being imposed upon Kenya and Africa.
Respect for the democratic rights of all participants attending anti imperialist and Pan African gatherings.

Efforts continue to demand the release of the arrested protesters as the two-day summit comes to an end. The demonstrations and counter-summit have sent a clear message across Africa about the growing determination to reassert political agency, defend sovereignty, and challenge imperialism on the continent.

Kenya

France

Pan-African Summit Against Imperialism

Nairobi

Anti-Imperialism

East Africa

repression

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