Six people were killed on Wednesday in different cities across Kenya during anti-government protests that authorities have banned over new taxes, two police sources told AFP.
“We have three dead in Mlolongo” near the capital Nairobi, “where a group of demonstrators had blocked the road to protest and we also have two more in Kitengela and one in Emali”, 30km and 120km respectively north of the capital, said a police source, who asked not to be identified. The toll has been confirmed by another police source in these three cities.
Photo: AFP
“Some (rioters) were killed” during a “confrontation with police officers deployed to quell the riots,” the first police source said, adding that police officers were also injured.
Rallies in several cities across the country on Wednesday saw protesters and police clashes, with the former throwing stones and the latter using tear gas.
In the Mathare slum in Nairobi, police fired tear gas canisters at protesters who were throwing stones. She also used it to disperse protesters in the port city of Mombasa (south).
Kenyan opposition veteran Raila Odinga, a multiple unsuccessful presidential candidate and the catalyst behind the mobilization, earlier on the day accused police of “shooting, injuring and killing protesters,” particularly in Nairobi.
“These gatherings take place peacefully until the police decide to break them up with bullets and tear gas,” he also said during a news conference.
Photo: AFP
These incidents come days after other deadly protests against President William Ruto’s administration in several cities across the country. At least six people were killed in these rallies last Friday, according to the Interior Ministry. Non-governmental organizations have denounced the violent police repression.
On Tuesday, the head of the national police banned the opposition rallies planned for Wednesday, saying they had not warned the authorities and urged the population not to join these “illegal gatherings”.
Weekly events
Last Friday, Raila Odinga called for demonstrations in several cities.
In Nairobi, police fired tear gas at Mr Odinga’s convoy. She had done the same to disperse rallies in Mombasa (south) and Kisumu (west).
On Saturday, activists claimed police fired tear gas at civil society figures, including former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, who was calling for the release of dozens of people arrested at protests.
“Our activities are protected by the constitution, which guarantees the right to protest, demonstrate, assemble and make demands,” Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango told AFP.
Raila Odinga’s Azimio Alliance, which lost Mr Ruto in the August 2022 presidential election and which he says was “stolen” from him, intends to organize demonstrations every week against government policies.
Many Kenyans, hard hit by the price and tax increases, say they cannot bear the disruption caused by the protests and see little improvement in their situation in the short term.
“It keeps getting worse”
“I used to wait for the demonstrations, I saw them as the only way to make us heard, but nothing is changing, it’s even getting worse,” Ruth Nyakundi, a 41-year-old cleaner, told AFP the day before. new manifestations.
“We all know how it will end, we have left the streets and the police are patrolling the city. “Let me just go home and watch what’s going to happen on TV,” Lameck Mwangi, a 34-year-old retailer from Nairobi, who closed his electronics store for the day, told AFP.
Between March and May, the Azimio opposition coalition organized anti-government demonstrations in which the authorities said three people were killed.
In early July, President Ruto announced a finance law introducing a range of new taxes, despite criticism from the opposition and the population of the country hit by high inflation.
In particular, the text proposes an increase in VAT on fuel from 8% to 16% and an unpopular wage levy to fund a low-cost housing programme. Originally planned at 3%, this was lowered to 1.5%.