Kenya's capital ground to a halt on Monday as police enforced an extraordinary lockdown, turning Nairobi's normally bustling streets into empty corridors of roadblocks and riot police squads.

What was meant to be a day commemorating 35 years of the push for political space instead became a city under siege, sealed off at dawn by layers of security checkpoints and armoured vehicles.

Saba Saba, July 7, marks the anniversary of the 1990 demonstrations that challenged the single-party rule and ushered in multiparty democracy.

But this July, the promise of that struggle felt distant as police choked off access to the Central Business District (CBD) and major roads, citing "orders from above." By early morning, Nairobi was a ghost town.