Chaotic scenes continue to prevail in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities, where a demonstration by thousands of people across the country to protest planned tax increases ended. in brutal repression by the authorities, with protesters trying to invade parliament and the police opening fire, killing an undetermined number of protesters.
Thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest against the plans tax increases. Demonstration organizers called for demonstrations and a general strike against the tax legislation in hopes of building on the momentum that, in the space of a week, turned an online mobilization led mainly by young people into a major headache for the government. Protesters also call for resignation of the president Guilherme Ruto.
Ruto won elections almost two years ago with a pro-poor program for Kenya’s working poor, but he currently faces demands from creditors such as the International Monetary Fund for government budget cuts and, on the other, a population suffering from rising of the cost of living.
Invasion
The mobilization diverted to scenes of chaos, when protesters attacked police forces who repelled them in an attempt to storm the parliament building. Flames were coming out of the building.
Police opened fire when tear gas and water cannon were deemed insufficient to disperse the crowd of protesters. Television reported a fire in the Nairobi governor’s offices.
At least five people were killed and 31 were injured during the protests, NGOs including the Kenyan chapter of Amnesty International said in a press release. “At least five people were shot while helping the injured. Thirty-one were injured”, said the NGOs, noting that they also recorded 21 cases of kidnappings by “uniformed officers or people in plain clothes” in the last 24 hours.
The death toll is unknown
A Reuters reporter counted the bodies of at least five protesters outside Parliament. A rescuer said that tat least 10 were killed by gunfire. Another rescue team said more than 50 people were injured by gunfire. The NGO Kenya Commission for Human Rights (KHCR) said it saw police “shoot at four protesters, (…) killing one of them”, in a press release published in X. AFP journalists at the scene saw three lifeless bodies, in pools of blood, near Parliament.
Obama’s half-sister injured
Kenyan activist Auma Obama, half-sister of former US President Barack Obama, was among protesters injured by tear gas, she told CNN.
The Kenya Red Cross said its vehicles were attacked during the protests and that staff and volunteers were injured. “We cannot provide rescue services without access and safety for our staff and volunteers. It is vital that we are given access to continue our humanitarian efforts unhindered,” the Kenya Red Cross said.
He did not say who attacked his vehicles or who injured staff and volunteers.
The country’s internet service provider suffered major outages in the late afternoon, NetBlocks announced.
Private television network KTN reported that state authorities threatened to stop broadcasting news about the protests.