Nairobi, June 25 (EFE).- The Government of Kenya ordered this Tuesday the deployment of the Army to address the “security emergency” caused by protests against a bill for tax increases that have shaken the country to the point of provoking the assault of protesters on Parliament in Nairobi.
“The Kenya Defense Forces are deployed on June 25, 2024 in support of the National Police Service,” Kenyan Defense Minister Aden Duale said in a brief decree published in The Kenyan Gazette (Official State Gazette).
The military mobilization comes “in response to the security emergency caused by ongoing violent protests in various parts of the Republic of Kenya resulting in destruction and violation of critical infrastructure,” Duale added.
The order was released after the Police were overwhelmed by the demonstrations, especially in Nairobi, the epicenter of unprecedented mobilizations in the country’s recent history.
At least 17 people died this Tuesday in Kenya – 14 of them in the capital – in the protests, a platform made up of twenty NGOs confirmed to EFE.
On the third day of demonstrations in the last week and shouting “Ruto must go, Ruto must go!”, in reference to the Kenyan president, William Ruto, the protesters, mostly young people, invaded Parliament this Tuesday through of the Senate (Upper House), despite the harsh response of the Police, who opened fire to prevent the assault.
What began as a peaceful protest by thousands of young people against tax increases in the Kenyan capital – and other cities in at least 29 of the country’s 47 counties – descended into a pitched battle between security forces and protesters.
In the invasion of Parliament, the assailants destroyed furniture, windows and flags, while accusing politicians of being “traitors”, after 195 deputies voted preliminarily in favor of the controversial Finance Bill of 2024, compared to 106 votes against, although the final vote is still pending.
With this rule, the Government intends to raise $2.7 billion in additional taxes to reduce the budget deficit and state debt.
However, anti-government protesters maintain that these tax measures push the population into poverty.
Last Tuesday, more than 300 people were arrested in Nairobi, while on Thursday there were at least 105 arrests throughout the country and 200 people were injured in the capital, while two protesters died as a result of those protests (one for the alleged impact from a gas canister and another from a police shot).
Unlike the anti-government protests that Kenya has historically experienced, often violent and driven by political leaders, these demonstrations were called by young people of the so-called ‘generation Z’ (people born between the mid-nineties of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century) and until now maintained a peaceful tone.
