(stolen)
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Harry Thuku photographed at his farm in Kiambu in 1968, aged 72. He would pass on two years later.
Some lessons for the younger generation who are members of this kijiji
There is a reason the road that runs down Norfolk Hotel is named after him.
When in 1922 Sir Northey, then the colonial governor, ordered that he be arrested, Thuku was taken to police lines at the spot currently occupied by KBC near Norfolk Hotel.
Angered by his arrest, a crowd marched all the way from Kiambu to the police station for a vigil. As the menfolk leading the protests discussed what to do the following morning, a young woman, Mûthoni Nyanjirû, stripped herself naked in protest and emboldened the increasingly agitated crowd.
Mûthoni led the crowd in taunting the column of police. The crowd surged forward to confront the policemen.
When gunshots rang out, Mûthoni was the first to be felled. Some white settlers chatting over drinks at nearby Norfolk hotel interrupted their leisure. They drew their guns and rushed down the road to join the police in the killing. In all, about 50 men, women and children were killed on this street.
Little did the crowd know that Thuku had overnight been actually deported to Kismayu, then the capital of British Somaliland.
Today, the serenity of Harry Thuku street belies the commotion and tragic events that took place there in 1922.