Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Police tear gas and arrest protesters at France-Africa counter summit in Nairobi
Nicholas Mwangi
20 May 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism
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:

  1. The immediate and unconditional release of all arrested comrades.
  2. An end to police harassment, abductions and repression against activists, organizers and progressive movements.
  3. The immediate halt to all imperialist military, political and economic agreements being imposed upon Kenya and Africa.
  4. 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

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Beverley Waithaka
Kenya Is Not America's Quarantine Zone
24 June 2026
The United States announced that Kenya, with the permission of a comprador government, would serve as an Ebola quarantine hub for Ame
Socialist Movement of Ghana , Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Statement of Condemnation of the Plan to Have Emmanuel Macron Deliver a Keynote Address on Reparations in Ghana
10 June 2026
The Socialist Movement of Ghana declared its strong opposition to their government's invitation to French president Emmanuel Macron t
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
France Out of Africa! PASAI Shows the Way
13 May 2026
An international gathering of anti-imperialists in Nairobi, Kenya revealed the lies of “Africa Forward” as the presidents of France a
Pavan Kulkarni
Thousands of Malians demonstrate in support of the government’s fight against terror groups
13 May 2026
Two weeks before, the armed forces had fought off the highly coordinated attacks on six cities by about 12,000 jihadist and separatist fighters
Kenyan government offers Red carpet for colonizers and a bloody nose for Anti-Imperialists
13 May 2026
The Ruto regime claims a Pan-African mandate when it sends police to Haiti, but it attacks and arrests Pan-African delegates when they gather i
Jeremy Miller
The Republic of Mali Still Stands: A Sahelian coup d'état that almost was
06 May 2026
The attack on Mali was a coordinated international destabilization campaign, but as is usually the case, any coverage from the Wester
Black Alliance for Peace
BAP Condemns Kidnapping and Torture of Kenyan Revolutionary Leader
27 February 2026
Kenya presents itself as a regional stable democracy. The torture and framing of the Marxist party leader belies this narrative.
Booker Omole
Statement on Zionist Plans to Create a Mini-State in Kenya and the Lessons from History
18 February 2026
In 1903, Britain offered Kenyan land to Zionist settlers. That scheme failed. Now, a new attempt is underway in Nakuru.
Jon Jeter
Kenya’s President Attempts to Close Budget Gap by Selling Citizens’ Health Data to the U.S.
17 December 2025
Kenya is auctioning its sovereignty to foreign powers. The final item on the block is the genetic data of its own people.
Raïs Neza Boneza
Macron, Madagascar, and the Return of France’s Old Colonial Ghosts
12 November 2025
In 2025, Françafrique didn’t die — it just booked a seat on a French military plane.

More Stories


  • White Nationalists Will Convene at American Renaissance Conference
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    White Nationalists Will Convene at American Renaissance Conference
    28 Oct 2022
    Daryle Lamont Jenkins is Executive Director of the One People’s Project, which seeks to combat right wing groups and individuals by exposing their threat to the world. He joins us from New Brunswick…
  • International Realignments and the Absence of Progressive Voices in the West
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Realignments and the Absence of Progressive Voices in the West
    28 Oct 2022
    Dr. Gerald Horne was a guest on Sputnik's The Critical Hour, with Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon. He discussed the realignment of African nations away from the US and former colonizers and towards…
  • DOCUMENT: Prologue: The Global Fragility Act, April 2022
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DOCUMENT: Prologue: The Global Fragility Act, April 2022
    26 Oct 2022
    The US is ushering a new foreign policy doctrine through “The Global Fragility Act.” We need to not only understand these new forms of imperial practice, but to also see the cunning use of language…
  • Biden Orders Progressives to Denounce Themselves on Ukraine
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden Orders Progressives to Denounce Themselves on Ukraine
    26 Oct 2022
    Progressives made a mealy mouthed appeal to Biden to engage in talks regarding Ukraine. He slapped them down and they in turn slapped themselves.
  • The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
    26 Oct 2022
    Corporate media fail in the most basic of journalistic standards when covering China. The recent 20th National Congress of the CPC was an opportunity to convey important information instead of "China…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us