Nairobi, Kenya – Kenyan police revoked official approval for a peaceful protest scheduled for Tuesday, May 27th, aimed at denouncing the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and demanding the release of 11 detained activists now widely known as the #KCB11.
The protest organized by the grassroots coalition StopEACOP was to kick off from Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi.
The group’s rallying cry was clear: “Free the KCB11 and stop financing the destruction of Africa’s environment!”
“The police have revoked the acknowledgment letter that okayed today’s protest on the basis that we cannot include or talk about #TheKCB11,” StopEACOP wrote in a defiant post on X (formerly Twitter).
“We recognize this as an attempt to suppress dissent & refuse to give up.”
The protest was intended as a nonviolent, youth-led demonstration of solidarity with communities in Uganda and Tanzania whose lives and lands are being uprooted by the 1,443km EACOP project, a pipeline stretching from Hoima, Uganda, to Tanga, Tanzania. The project is backed by TotalEnergies and funded in part by KCB Group.
Demonstrators also demanded justice for the 11 climate activists arrested outside KCB Uganda offices in Kampala. The #KCB11 has become a rallying symbol for climate justice and resistance across the region.
The KCB11 were arrested earlier this year while protesting KCB Group’s financial ties to EACOP. Their arrest sparked international outcry, with human rights groups labeling them prisoners of conscience.
Activists insist their detention is a targeted attempt to criminalize environmental activism and intimidate dissenting voices. Legal observers have noted serious procedural irregularities in their ongoing case, including denial of bail and restricted access to legal counsel.
“These are peaceful young people, not criminals. The real crime is the destruction of our environment, not standing up for it,” said Wangari Odinga, a Nairobi-based climate lawyer.
Climate scientists, leaders, and financial watchdogs have intensely criticized the EACOP project. If completed, it would become the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline, cutting through protected wildlife zones, farmlands, and sacred cultural sites.
Environmentalists warn that EACOP threatens over 100,000 people with displacement, risks polluting Lake Victoria, and locks East Africa into a fossil fuel-dependent future, even as climate change tightens its grip on the continent.
Yet despite mounting protests, banks like KCB Group have remained tight-lipped about their involvement, prompting accusations of corporate greenwashing and financial complicity.
The last-minute revocation of the protest permit, explicitly citing the activists’ demand to speak about the #KCB11, has left many asking tough questions about freedom of expression in Kenya.
“This is not about public safety. This is about silencing political truth,” said Fatuma Kamande, a Nairobi protest organizer.
“When you outlaw peaceful protest, you invite unrest. This is how democracies crack.”
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