What began as a nationwide protest over soaring fuel prices and a crippling transport crisis quickly degenerated into scenes of terror, extortion and organised chaos across Kenya’s highways, estates and towns.

By dawn, matatus had vanished from roads in Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Eldoret and several other counties as operators downed their tools to protest newly announced fuel prices. Bus termini that normally roar with engines and conductors’ whistles stood eerily silent.