On 20 October 1952, the British colonial government declared a State of Emergency in Kenya. It was a response to the growing Mau Mau insurgency, an armed movement of primarily Kikuyu fighters demanding land and freedom. The declaration gave the government extraordinary powers. Suspects could be detained without trial. Villages could be burned. Summary executions were permitted. What followed was one of the most brutal episodes of British colonial repression in history, featuring mass detention camps, systematic torture and the relocation of entire communities into guarded villages.