It is the most serious crisis President William Ruto has faced since taking office in 2022
Crowds in Kenya’s capital Nairobi threw rocks and looted businesses as police officers fired tear gas in scattered violence during fresh anti-government protests on Tuesday following last month’s deadly demonstrations.
Activists continued to agitate online against President William Ruto despite his decision last week to withdraw a controversial bill that triggered what he called “treacherous” protests by Gen Z Kenyans.
Protesters evade Kenyan riot police charge during anti-government rally
Photo credit: AFP
The Kenya National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) said on Monday that 39 people had been killed and 361 injured during two weeks of protests – with the worst violence occurring in Nairobi last Tuesday – and condemned the use of force against protesters as “excessive and disproportionate”.
It is the most serious crisis Ruto has faced since taking office in September 2022, in a nation often considered a beacon of stability in a turbulent region.
A protester holds a newspaper as smoke billows from a burning barricade during an anti-government demonstration
Photo credit: AFP
After last week’s bloody chaos, young Kenyans, whose protest movement has no official leaders, called for a new day of peaceful action on Tuesday, with leaflets posted online using the hashtag “RutoMustGo”.
But Nairobi’s central business district – the focus of previous rallies – saw sporadic clashes on Tuesday afternoon. Police fired tear gas and water cannons at groups of stone-throwing men, some of whom lit fires on deserted roads.
“The goons have infiltrated,” prominent Gen Z protester Hanifa Adan posted on X.
AFP journalists reported seeing several arrests and injuries, although there are no official figures.
Kenyan police officers detain a man injured during an anti-government demonstration
Photo credit: AFP
Several coffins, some covered with the national flag, were placed on the roads by protesters, Kenyan television footage showed, before being removed by officers.
Local politician John Kwenya told AFP that business owners who closed their shops were “afraid” of “thugs”.
“This is economic sabotage,” said Kwenya, a member of the Nairobi city council.
Elsewhere in the country, local television broadcast images of large marches in the coastal opposition stronghold of Mombasa, where several cars were set on fire, and Kenyan media outlets shared videos of at least one store being vandalized.
Protesters react after setting fire to street furniture during an anti-government demonstration
Photo credit: AFP
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki denounced what he described as an “orgy of violence”, warning that the government would take action against anyone involved in “anarchic chaos and cruel looting”.
“This reign of terror against the people of Kenya and the impunity of dangerous criminal groups must end at any cost,” he said.
On Tuesday last week, largely peaceful anti-tax demonstrations turned into deadly chaos when lawmakers passed the finance bill – a deeply unpopular measure among Kenyans already suffering from a cost-of-living crisis.
After the vote was announced, crowds ransacked the partially burning parliament complex in central Nairobi, while police fired live bullets at protesters.
Protesters run into the Kenyan Parliament as a Kenyan police officer looks at them on June 25
Photo credit: AFP
Although Ruto rejected the legislation and called for dialogue with young Kenyans, his actions appear to have failed to appease his critics.
In a television interview on Sunday, he defended his decision to call in the military to combat the unrest and insisted he had “no blood on his hands.”
In the Rift Valley city of Nakuru on Tuesday, protesters marched peacefully, with some carrying photos of three people killed in last week’s demonstrations.
“We want justice for the innocent Kenyans killed by police during peaceful protests,” Mary Lynn Wangui told AFP.
“Ruto didn’t say sorry,” said the 24-year-old, as she waved a sign that read: “RutoMustGo”.
At a peaceful march in the lakeside town of Kisumu in western Kenya, 26-year-old protester Allan Odhiambo told AFP he had lost hope in Ruto.
“We promised a peaceful protest and that is what we did, but Ruto must leave,” he said.
The state-funded KNCHR said on Monday that in previous protests there had been 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters.
Kenya’s cash-strapped government previously said tax increases were needed to fill its coffers and pay down a huge public debt of about 10 billion shillings ($78 billion), or about 70 percent of the GDP.
In Sunday’s interview, Ruto warned that the government would have to borrow a further $7.7 billion due to the decision to withdraw the finance law.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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