Protesters in Kenya are furious over the government’s economic policies [Monicah Mwangi/Reuters]
In Nairobi, Kenya’s heart, police unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets to clear crowds protesting a contentious bill. The bill threatened to hike taxes on essentials.
On Thursday, masses hit the streets, demanding President William Ruto’s ouster. This came a day after he bowed to youth protesters, retracting the widely despised tax proposal.
As marchers pressed toward Nairobi’s core, soldiers framed the scene, while anti-riot police barricaded all routes leading to Ruto’s headquarters at State House and the Kenyan Parliament. Demonstrators turned out fewer than on prior days when violent clashes claimed over 20 lives, say human rights groups.
The Kenya National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) aired concerns on social media, citing verified accounts of live ammunition used against “protesting civilians nationwide, causing some fatalities.” Exact locations of these events were not disclosed.
Protests also erupted in Mombasa, the coastal hub, and Kisumu, the stronghold of the opposition; footage revealed obstructions and fires ignited by demonstrators. Similar scenes unfolded in Kisii and Migori.
Reports pinpointed seven gunshot casualties—two women and five men—in Homa Bay Town, western Kenya, per Citizen TV news. The victims, shot by police while protesting, were rushed to Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Protesters insist ‘Ruto must go!’
The youth-driven protests ignited last week, blindsiding authorities. Ruto’s regime wavered between cracking down and calling for discussions.
On Wednesday, Ruto shelved the tax revamp and retracted the proposal.
“The people have spoken,” he declared, pledging to seek “engagement with our nation’s youth.”
Yet demonstrators pledged to persist, honoring those slain in protests, lambasting Ruto’s late pivot as inadequate.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Nairobi, described wavering street tensions—flare-ups clashing with moments of calm.
Young voices in the capital vowed to persist until the president resigns, with chants of “Ruto must go, Ruto must go!” echoing continuously.
“They crave new presidential leadership and a clean sweep of what they brand as corrupt parliamentarians indifferent to their needs,” Basravi noted.
Kasmuel McOure, a local youth leader and acclaimed pianist, told Al Jazeera Ruto governs a nation brimming with disaffected youth.
“Kenya’s declared a military state, yet no one discusses it enough. The army’s given free rein,” he observed, pledging to protest until the president “heeds the cries of the Kenyan people.”
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
