Kenyan police sprayed water cannon on protesters during a protest against tax increases proposed in a finance bill in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday.
Brian Inganga/AP
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Brian Inganga/AP
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Part of Kenya’s parliament building was burned to the ground on Tuesday as thousands of protesters opposed to a new finance bill entered and lawmakers fled in the most direct attack on the government in decades. Reporters saw at least three bodies outside the building where police opened fire. The conflict spread to other cities.
Protesters are demanding lawmakers vote against a bill that would impose new taxes on the East African economic hub, where dissatisfaction over the high cost of living has simmered for years. Young people who voted to bring President William Ruto to power cheered his promises of economic relief and took to the streets to protest the pain of the reforms.
But lawmakers voted to pass the bill and then fled through a tunnel as protesters, many of them young, outmaneuvered police and entered parliament. Protesters allowed opposition lawmakers who voted against the bill to leave the besieged building. The fire was later put out.
A man who was shot was wrapped in a Kenyan flag and taken away.
There was no immediate comment from the Kenyan government, where internet services have slowed significantly. Ruto was attending an African Union retreat outside Nairobi. He is expected to sign the finance bill into law this week and will have two weeks to take action.
The office of the Nairobi governor, a member of the ruling party, also briefly caught fire on Tuesday, with thick smoke billowing from the white exterior. The office is located near the Parliament. Police deployed water cannons to put out the fire.
Protesters could be heard shouting: “We are here for every politician.”
Demonstrators dispersed in central Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday during a protest against proposed tax increases in a finance bill.
Brian Inganga/AP
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Brian Inganga/AP
Police also fired live ammunition and threw tear gas canisters at protesters seeking treatment at a medical tent set up at a church near the parliament building. Elsewhere, Kenyatta National Hospital said it had admitted 45 “victims”, but it was not clear if anyone had died.
Kenya’s Human Rights Commission shared a video of police firing on protesters and said they would be held accountable, urging Ruto to immediately issue an order to “stop the killings”.
On Sunday, Ruto sought to calm growing public nervousness over the finance bill, saying he was proud of young Kenyans who had stepped up to fulfill their democratic obligations. He said he would discuss their concerns with them.
But last week, as prices for fuel, basic food and other necessities soared, young people announced they would unite to take control of the government. In Nairobi, a regional hub for expatriates and home to the main United Nations complex, inequality among Kenyans has grown amid longstanding resentment over corruption in the country.
Opposition to the finance bill has united much of the country, some of them explicitly opposed to the tribal divisions that have divided Kenya in the past. Some who enthusiastically supported Ruto feel betrayed.
“I listened to his lies. Now I’m here regretting why I voted for him,” young Oscar Senna told The Associated Press last week
Acts of defiance were also seen elsewhere in the country on Tuesday as crowds of protesters took to the streets.
A witness said protesters tried to storm the state house in the western city of Nakuru. Clashes broke out in the western lakeside city of Kisumu. The governor of Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, also joined protesters outside his office and expressed support for them.
Protesters burned down the offices of the ruling party in Embu, central Kenya, The Nation reported. Citizen TV showed footage of police confronting protesters on smoldering streets in Nyeri, central Kenya.
Broadcaster KTN issued a statement saying that “we have received threats from the authorities to shut us down” as reports continued.
A national gathering of Catholic bishops urged police not to attack protesters and implored the government to listen to citizens’ anguish over “unjustified” taxes, saying “the country is bleeding … and families are suffering tremendous pain.”
Two people died at similar protests last week, and civil society groups have warned of a crackdown.
Kenya Bar Association president Faith Odhiambo said earlier on Tuesday that 50 Kenyans, including her personal assistant, had been “kidnapped” by people believed to be police officers.
Some of the missing included those who had spoken out at the demonstrations and were taken from their homes, workplaces and public spaces ahead of Tuesday’s protests, according to civil society groups.
Police officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Speaker of Parliament Moses Wetangula has directed the Inspector General of Police to provide information on the whereabouts of those reportedly abducted.
Also on Tuesday, hundreds of Kenyan police officers who have long been accused of human rights abuses by human rights watchdogs and others arrived in Haiti to lead a U.N.-backed multinational force fighting powerful gangs that control the country. The deployment faces legal challenges in Kenya but has been moved forward by Ruto’s government, thanks to U.S. President Joe Biden.
