Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya

Updated: 4 Dec 2019

Nine months after the Lari Massacre of 26 March 1953, twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen were sentenced to death in Kenya for their part in the event. The unfortunate event happened 10 years before the independence of the country from Britain in 1963 and aggravated an already bleak political situation. The massacre followed the eruption of violence on 20 October 1952, as the Mau Mau protested the arrest of Jomo Kenyatta and five of his comrades. Approximately 74 people were killed and 50 wounded, including Mau Mau loyalists, during the massacre making it the largest single massacre of the Mau Mau uprising. It became known as the "Lari Massacre" and it is commemorated every year in Kenya. To watch the video and comments from those who witnessed the massacre click on the following link: www.youtube.com

How we know this

01Boddy-Evans, A. (2011). ‘This day in history’from About.com: African History [online]. Available at www.africanhistory.about.com [Accessed 10 December 2011]
02Misterseed.com (2011). ‘Lari Massacre’, [online]. Available at www.misterseeed.com [Accessed 10 November 2011]
03Djacademe.wordpress.com (2011). ‘Scares of Lari -1953 massacre in Kenya’fromDJ Academe [online]. Available at djacademe.wordpress.com [Accessed 10 November 2011]

Last updated · 4 Dec 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, December 13). Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071088

South African History Online (2011) 'Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya', South African History Online, 13 December. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071088 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

South African History Online, Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071088, (accessed 22 October 2026).

"Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya." South African History Online, 13 Dec. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071088. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya." South African History Online. December 13, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071088.