A protester tries to escape from a policeman during a demonstration in Nairobi, on June 25, 2024. Kenyan police fired tear gas at crowds of young protesters in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday, as demonstrators rallied across the country against the government's proposed tax increases. The demonstrations, led mainly by Generation Z, which began last week, took President William Ruto's government by surprise, and he said over the weekend that he was ready to talk to the protesters, according to AFP reporters. (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP)— After waiting for hours outside a morgue in the capital Nairobi, gripped by protests against the Kenyan government’s controversial tax rises, Florence Onyango received the news she had been dreading.
“A friend of mine died because he was demonstrating yesterday close to the parliament. He was shot in the head,” the 47-year-old told AFP, tears welling up in her eyes.
“His name was Eric and he was only 22. Young people can’t be killed for no reason.”
Her friend was just one of a score of demonstrators killed in a day of mainly youth-led protests against deeply unpopular tax hikes across the East African country Tuesday.
Tensions ran especially high in Nairobi, where according to an NGO police opened fire on demonstrators who stormed parliament, where lawmakers were voting on the bill containing the tax rises.
Parts of the parliament were set ablaze, prompting President William Ruto’s government to deploy the army.
The scale of the violence prompted Ruto to say Wednesday afternoon he would not sign into law but would instead withdraw the contentious tax hikes — even if the move meant a significant shortfall in funding for development programmes designed to help farmers and schoolteachers.
Rights groups say the police fired live rounds at the demonstrators, and have also accused the authorities of abducting protesters.
The Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) counted 22 deaths in the country, including 19 in Nairobi.
The unrest also led to “more than 300 injured and more than 50 arrests”, the commission’s chairwoman Roseline Odede said.
On Wednesday, Nairobi’s central business district still bore the scars of the previous day’s violence.
The husk of a burnt-out car lay in a gutter, and the smell of tear gas hung in the air around parliament.
Nearby, dried blood stained the ground red.
Before returning to work, Steve hurried along Parliament Road to revisit the scene of the protest he had taken part in.
“The government does not care about us because they shot us with live bullets,” the 40-year-old farmer said, blaming Ruto for having “victimised innocent people”.
Despite the deaths, Steve was undeterred: “I will demonstrate again tomorrow, and I expect more violence and chaos.”
In the face of the unrest, parliament passed the bill with the tax hikes on Tuesday afternoon, and it needed only Ruto’s signature to become law before he dramatically reversed course Wednesday.
Protesters had earlier vowed to take to the streets again Thursday, calling for the bill to be scrapped entirely.