Kenyan protesters vowed on Wednesday to continue their protests against the new tax increases, a day after violent clashes outside Parliament and across the country left at least 23 dead and dozens injured. As heavily armed police patrolled the streets of the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday, supporters of the week-long protest movement took to the social network and English.
An outburst of anger on social media over tax increases became a national protest movement demanding political reform, in the most serious crisis of President William Ruto’s two years in office. Police opened fire on a crowd gathering around Parliament on Tuesday and then stormed the assembly grounds, minutes after lawmakers voted in favor of controversial tax measures.
The Nation newspaper documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya’s 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas, including in Ruto’s hometown of Eldoret, in its Kalenjin ethnic heartland. At least 23 people died in Kenya and another 30 were being treated for wounds from bullet, the Kenya Medical Association reported this Wednesday.
In the capital, the main public morgue received the bodies of six people killed in the protests on Tuesday, a police officer stationed there confirmed to the Reuters news agency. Two more bodies and 160 people with injuries arrived at Kenyatta National Hospital, two health officials said.
Many social media users focused on Ruto’s speech after the clashes, in which he commented that the attack on Parliament was the work of “criminals posing as peaceful protesters”. Posts on social media urged the population to occupy Government House, the president’s office and residence on Thursday and the local offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday, although it was not immediately clear whether the Calls came from individuals or a broader movement.
Extract and adaptation of an article written by Giulia Paravicini and Aaron Ross, from the Reuters news agency
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