“Lift Your head and I will shoot you,” UON Student recounts 2-hour horror attack in the hands of GSU Officers

“The heartless GSU officers treated us so harshly. I did not believe a human being could act in such a way. When I looked into the eyes of the officers they did not look human at all,” Lucy (not her real name) painfully narrates her experience in the hands of GSU officers who invaded the University of Nairobi.

Thursday, September 28, 2017, was a normal day and Lucy was simply going about her routine, attending lectures.

Drama started when a section of the students held demos on Mamlaka Road, demanding the release of the former Campus student leader and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino,

However, Lucy reveals that only a handful of the scholars were demonstrating as the majority proceeded to lecture halls to continue with their learning.

At around 3 pm when her lecture was going on at Architecture Design and Development (ADD) building, the GSU officers lobbed teargas towards the block.

Out of sheer curiosity, they ran to the window to have a glimpse of what was happening outside.

When the officers spotted them while in class they lobbed more teargas canisters in their direction.

At this point Lucy says that the lecturer ended the class prematurely and took flight.

As the officers aggressively launched teargas canisters towards them, Lucy mentions that they saw it necessary to leave the building and seek safety.

This was perhaps the greatest mistake they made because it marked the start of their torturous experience in the hands of the merciless officers.

Once outside the armed officers pounced on them and forced them to lie on the ground.

“At that point, I thought maybe we were going to be released. Probably we could tell them that in our case we were in class and they would set us free.

“A GSU officer holding a gun appeared and said: ‘if you lift your head I will shoot you, I do not care’.

This callous message sent jitters along their spines.

“So we decided to lay down so that we could get out of the situation alive. Another officer came in and told the GSU advocating for peace that; Amani ni wewe.

“Then he started hitting our buttocks with the baton,” she narrated.

Lucy divulged that the armed officer picked on students who cried and clobbered them even more.

She was keen not to cry and endured the pain as she feared they could drag her to the nearby room and do the worst to her (she said implying rape).

The student mentioned that sticking together was the only way they though they would survive. Their greatest horror was being isolated from the group.

This went on for a while until they were finally released.

As they walked away from their attackers with hands in the air, they met another bunch of GSU officers at the parking lot where the beginning of a more petrifying encounter started.

“On reaching the parking lot the GSU guys who were outside came in when they saw us. Some were armed with batons and guns.

“Coming towards us I was trying to tell them that I had already been beaten but they did not want to hear any of that. They dragged me to the ground by my hair while some were dragged down by whatever the officers could hold on.

“Then they started another cycle of clobbering us ruthlessly. Three GSU officers were on me and another girl who was next to me.

“In the parking lot, it was worse than what we had gone through in the classroom. At that point, I just broke down as I could not take it anymore. I was crying and I had also become numb from all the beating. It was like my body just gave up.”

The students were rescued by officers who came and instructed those beating us to leave us alone.

When they were released Lucy divulged that her colleagues started running but she could not do so because of the pain on her behind.

“I could not run due to the pain and one of the officers threatened me because he thought I was being rude.

"At that point, I was like if you want to kill me just kill me. Because my dignity has already been dragged to the ground,”

The scholar noted that as she walked away she saw other students laying on the ground as the officers battered them.

According to Lucy, her dreadful moment in the hands of the GSU lasted for almost two hours.

After this, she walked home and could not sit on her posterior for four days.

"The first time I sat was on Monday, October 2, 2017. My buttocks were swollen and appeared to have another layer from the beating I received," she said.

Here is the video:

UON-MY BRUTAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE POLICE