Occupy Parliament: Kenya protests go global as 'Football Twitter' shows support

The ‘Occupy Parliament’ protests have taken a life of their own, getting recognition from across the world with many powerful X accounts, who operate from abroad and reach millions of fans, joining the online struggle too.

On Wednesday night, the #RejectFinanceBill2024 conversation was granted a mighty push after international hacker group Anonymous issued a stern warning to President William Ruto and the Kenyan parliamentarians, urging them to listen to the voice of Kenyans or face disastrous cyber repercussions.

Anonymous' message, which massively electrified Kenyans and galvanised protesters, would be quickly followed by yet more support from more internationally-renowned entities.

On Thursday, in the thick of the nationwide protests, football Twitter, a soccer sub-culture of the X platform, joined the conversation too, all showing simultaneous support to the protests and rallying the world behind Kenya.

Some of the biggest football fan pages in the world, which collectively boast millions of followers, all joined hands to share the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024, sharing a poster which features a clenched fist and accompanied by a short, supportive caption to Kenya.

The Troll Football account, which boasts over 300K followers on X, shared the 'Reject Not Amend' poster, writing, 'Troll Football Stands with Kenya!'

CFC Janty, yet another football fanpage boasting over 500K followers, also shared the same poster, writing, "We are with you Kenya!"

UTD Trey, another fan account with over 1 million followers, also quickly followed suit, sharing the same poster, writing, "I'm with you Kenya!"

Also showing support was the fanpage TLV (The Lampard View) which wrote, "Let's take advantage of Football Twitter's power. We are with you Kenya!"

Elated by the immense support from his compatriots, popular Kenyan football X account @WelBeast also chimed in, thanking his peers for the unprecedented show of support.

"Football Twitter, thank you for joining the course. On behalf of my fellow citizens, I express my gratitude. #REJECTFINANCEBILL2024!" he wrote.

More accounts have also joined in, including Football Hub, UTD Faithful, Simply Goal and MCFC Jacky.

As Members of Parliament are set to cast a crucial vote that decide whether the Bill proceeds to the Third Reading stage, massive protests have been witnessed in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nyeri, Eldoret and other major towns.