Kenyan police fired on a crowd protesting outside the country’s parliament at the state of the economy, killing at least five on Tuesday. Inside the building, MPs were passing a controversial finance bill raising taxes.
The protesters outside the parliament were calling for parliament to be shut down and for Kenyan President William Ruto and the whole government to resign. Protester Daniel Mwangi explained that the people could not afford to buy anything because prices were so high, and being unable to find work began to protest full-time, “If we can’t find something to live for, we can find something to die for,” he said.
The police started firing after teargas and water cannon failed to disperse the crowd. While five people are known to have been killed, one paramedic claimed there were at least ten deaths. At least 31 people were also injured by bullets and canisters, and there were reports of flames issuing from the parliamentary building.
The half-sister of Barack Obama, Auma Obama, was involved in the protests, and was among a group of people teargassed as she gave an interview to Larry Madowo of CNN.
Kenya has been in the grip of protests against the state of the economy since last week, and these are not the first deaths. One person was killed and at least 200 injured in nationwide protests on Thursday.
Young people have led the protests, campaigning with the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024. Amnesty International reported that 12 people suspected of involvement in the campaign and the protests had been abducted in the days leading up to Tuesday’s protests, “by state agents or those acting with state authorisation”, according to Kenya’s Police Reforms Working Group.
The police brutality comes one day after US President Joe Biden designated Kenya a “major non-NATO ally”.
