THOUSANDS of people marched in cities and towns across Kenya on Saturday in protest at the recent killings of more than a dozen women. 

The anti-femicide demonstrations were the country’s largest ever show of opposition to sexual and gender-based violence.

In the capital Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women murdered this month. The crowd, composed mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill.

The demonstrators shouted: “Stop killing us!” as they waved signs bearing messages such as: “There is no justification to kill women.”

The crowd gave a hostile reception to parliamentary representative for women Esther Passaris when she tried to address the rally in Nairobi.

Protesters accuse Ms Passaris of remaining silent during the latest wave of killings and shouted her down with chants of “Where were you?” and “Go home!”

Kenyan news media have reported the  killings of at least 14 women since the start of the year, according to Patricia Andago, a data journalist at media and research firm Odipo Dev who also took part in the march.

News reports in Kenya show that at least 500 women were killed in acts of femicide from January 2016 to December 2023, with many more cases going unreported.