Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji
Hundreds of anti-tax protesters entered Kenya’s Parliament and part of the building set on fire, despite a heavy police presence, as many were livestreaming the action earlier in the day as they sang, chanted and beat drums.
Penpushing reports that the protesters marched in the port city of Mombasa, the opposition bastion of Kisumu, and Ruto’s stronghold of Eldoret, as police in full riot gear were firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd
The protesters were seen pushing back against barricades as they headed towards parliament, while a source said Kenyan police shot dead one protester near parliament, but a coalition of human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and the Kenya Medical Association, said that five people have been shot dead after police fired at protesters.
Penpushing further reports that the Secretary General of United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterre, through his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the world body was very much saddened by reports of deaths and injuries in the protests.
‘We’re also very concerned about reported cases of targeted, arbitrary detentions, It is very important that the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully be upheld. The authorities must “ensure that those rights are respected and that all incidents of deaths in the hands of security forces be fully investigated. Guterres urges the police and the authorities, the security forces, in Kenya to exercise restraint and for the demonstrators to act peacefully’, the statement reads
Penpushing also reports that President of the Law Society of Kenya Faith Odhiambo in reaction condemned the ugly development lamented that it was a black Tuesday in the country which will go down in Kenyan history.
“June 25, 2024 will go down in history as the day Kenyans died so that their president could please the colonial masters in the name of staggered tax measures recommended for implementation by the … International Monetary Fund,” she said in a statement shared on X.
Penpushing reports that the President of the Law Society of Kenya called for international criminal investigation authorities to help Kenyan families in their quest for justice, questioning that the citizens want answers under what law did the president use to deploy Kenya Defence forces on Kenyan soil.
The mainly Gen-Z-led rallies, which began last week, have caught the government off guard, with President William Ruto saying over the weekend he was ready to talk to the protesters, but tensions escalated on Tuesday afternoon, as crowds began to throw stones at police and push back against barricades, making their way towards the parliament complex, which was sealed off by police in full riot gear.
Penpushing reports that in the course of the protest police fired at crowds massing outside the parliament building, where lawmakers had been debating a contentious bill featuring tax hike proposals
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