Twenty-two people were killed in Kenya during anti-government protests which turned into chaos on Tuesday, the chairwoman of the official human rights body, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC), told AFP on Wednesday.
“We followed these demonstrations” and “recorded 22 deaths,” declared Roseline Odede, affirming that her organization, public but independent of the government, had “opened an investigation.” A previous report given by a doctors’ association had reported at least 13 deaths.
Kenya woke up in a state of shock on Wednesday the day after the violence, which notably saw demonstrators storm Parliament, a first in the history of the independent country since 1963.
“Deaths, disorder”, headlined the daily The Standardwhile the Daily Nation described the situation as “Pandemonium” (capital of hell, editor’s note), saying that “the foundations of the country have been deeply shaken”, with several deaths and scenes of chaos in the centre of the capital Nairobi.
The rallies, mainly led by young people, began peacefully last week, with thousands of demonstrators marching in Nairobi and other cities across the country to protest against new taxes planned in the 2024-2025 budget, currently being debated in parliament.
On Tuesday, while opponents demonstrated for the third time in eight days, tension suddenly rose in the afternoon in Nairobi.
According to NGOs, including the Kenyan branch of Amnesty International, the police fired live ammunition to try to contain the crowd, which forced security barriers to enter the Parliament grounds. Buildings were ransacked and partially burned.
Looting took place in Nairobi and several towns. Buildings were burned in Eldoret, in the Rift Valley, the stronghold of President William Ruto.
A few hours later, the government announced that it was deploying the army to support the police in the face of this “security emergency” and these “destructions and intrusions into crucial infrastructure”.
In the evening, President Ruto displayed his firmness by pledging to firmly repress “violence and anarchy”, promising in particular to make pay these “criminals posing as peaceful demonstrators” who are causing “a reign of terror against the people, their elected representatives and institutions.
Looting
The government was caught off guard by the intensity of opposition to its tax hike plans, led mainly by young Kenyans from “Generation Z” (those born after 1997).
On Wednesday morning, a strong police presence was deployed around parliament, where the scent of tear gas was still in the air, AFP noted.
Standing in front of the broken barricades of the complex, a police officer told AFP he was shocked by what he saw on television the day before. “It was crazy, we hope calm will return today,” he said.
The main opposition coalition, Azimio, led by historic opponent Raila Odinga, accused the government of having “unleashed its brute force” against the demonstrators and urged the police to “stop shooting innocent, peaceful and unarmed.”
The group of NGOs led by Amnesty Kenya also highlighted on Tuesday having noted 21 kidnappings of people by “officers in uniform or in plain clothes” during the previous 24 hours, accusations on which the police, requested by the AFP, did not didn’t react.
International concern
The violence and scenes of chaos in Nairobi on Tuesday alarmed the United States and more than a dozen European countries, as well as the UN and the African Union, which declared themselves “strongly concerned” by the violence and called quiet.
The protest movement against the taxes, dubbed “Occupy Parliament,” was launched on social media shortly after the 2024-2025 budget bill was presented to parliament on June 13, which includes a 16% VAT on bread and an annual 2.5% tax on private vehicles.
After the start of protests, the government, which considers new taxes necessary in view of the country’s heavy debt, announced on June 18 that it was withdrawing most of the measures planned for this purpose.
But the demonstrators demand the complete withdrawal of the text.
Before Tuesday, this mobilization had already been marked by the death of two people in Nairobi, as well as dozens of injuries and hundreds of arrests.
