International

One Dead, 200 Injured in Tax Protests

Published

5 months ago

Jun 21, 2024.

Stephen Jesuwale

Eko Hot Blog reports that a man died during mass demonstrations against proposed tax hikes in the Kenyan capital.

According to a statement from the police on Friday, the protests which took place on Thursday left 200 people injured.

A police watchdog is investigating allegations that the man was shot by police during Thursday’s demonstrations in Nairobi, the second protest this week.

Led largely by young Kenyans, the protests began in Nairobi on Tuesday and spread nationwide. They were fueled by widespread discontent over President William Ruto’s economic policies amidst a cost-of-living crisis.

Thursday’s demonstrations in Nairobi were mostly peaceful, but officers fired tear gas and water cannon throughout the day to disperse protesters near parliament.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said Friday it had “documented the death” of a 29-year-old man, “allegedly as a result of police shooting.”

“The Authority has this morning launched investigations into the fatal shooting,” the IPOA said in a statement.

According to a Nairobi police report seen by AFP, the man was taken to a hospital in Nairobi’s central district at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday “unconscious with a thigh injury” before “succumbing” to his injuries, without providing further details.

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A spokesman for Amnesty International Kenya, Mathias Kinyoda, told AFP, “One demonstrator was shot yesterday in the CBD (central business district) as he was trying to run away from the police.” Kinyoda confirmed the person had died and added that the shooter “was wearing plain clothes but he was accompanying the police,” calling for an investigation.

“We saw what happened,” a witness told AFP, describing how he was among people gathered on the second floor of a building. “We could see police opening fire at the group that was gathered there,” he said. “It was a police officer in a baseball cap because he got down from a police vehicle and ran back to it after the shooting when the crowd dispersed.”

Late Thursday, several organizations, including Amnesty International Kenya, reported that at least 200 people were injured in Nairobi. The Kenyan Red Cross said on X, formerly Twitter, that eight were in critical condition.

Thousands assembled across the country on Thursday, from the Indian Ocean city of Mombasa to the Rift Valley city of Nakuru and Ruto’s home city of Eldoret.

Following smaller-scale demonstrations in Nairobi earlier in the week, the cash-strapped government agreed to roll back several tax hikes laid out in a new bill. However, Ruto’s administration still plans to increase some taxes, defending the proposed levies as necessary for filling its coffers and reducing reliance on external borrowing.

After the decision to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership, as well as financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a 200-billion-shilling ($1.5-billion) shortfall. The proposed taxes were projected to raise 346.7 billion shillings ($2.7 billion), equivalent to 1.9 per cent of GDP, and reduce the budget deficit from 5.7 per cent to 3.3 per cent of GDP.

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