Police crack down on Kenyan protesters with deadly force a year after anti-tax uprising

Wednesday, when Sophie Mugure Njehia went down to the streets of Nairobi, she did not expect anyone who dies.

Njehia was one of the thousands of people who demonstrated Kenya on Wednesday to cry the more than 60 people killed during A massive antigan demonstration a year ago.

“In my naivety, I thought that today would be such a peaceful day because we commemorate those who died last year,” said Njehia In this case Nile Kӧksal host.

“But today it has become a demonstration, because the police just couldn’t let us be.”

Just like last year, Wednesday’s demonstrations saw highly armed officers fight against young demonstrators in the streets of Nairobi and across the country. The number of deaths is not yet clear, but the Amnesty Kenya rights group reports that 16 people were killed on Wednesday evening – most of them by the police.

Kenyan police spokesman Modiri Nyaga refused to comment on the reported deaths.

Tear gas, water cannons and living ammunition

The executive director of Amnesty Kenya, Irungu Houghton, told Reuters that the count had been verified by the Global Rights Guard Dog and the National Kenya Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). At least five of the victims have been shot, he said.

Earlier in the day, the KNCHR funded by the government reported eight deaths across the country, all “allegedly shining wounds”.

The guard dog said that there had been more than 400 victims in total and noted a heavy deployment of the police and “allegations of excessive use of force, in particular rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons, causing many injuries”.

Njehia, who strengthened her face of toothpaste to neutralize the effects of tear gas, says he saw the police deploy the gas against the demonstrators, as well as rubber bullets, living ammunition and water cannons.

“I saw a young group of people who are ready to do everything it takes to ensure that their future is brilliant and to ensure that our nation is properly governed,” said Njehia, 29, member of the Gen-Z revolutionary movement of the protest group.

“On the other hand, I saw a government that is afraid of young people in his country. I saw a government that was not willing to listen to young people. And I saw a government willing to kill us.”

Anti-fiscal protests become something bigger

What started last year as an uprising against the tax increases offered on an already impoverished population has turned into a broad movement against corruption, the increase in the cost of living and the violence of the state.

And this movement, says Njehia, is led by young people.

“Our greatest motivation is now our lack of hope, is our disillusionment, is our lack of jobs, is the fact that our potential to be important is to flow,” said Njehia.

The median age in Kenya is 19 years oldand almost 40% of the population lives in povertyAccording to government figures.

“We are ready to risk a lot because this government has proven us that he is not afraid to kill us,” said Njehia. “And if they don’t kill us physically, then they kill our hope and they kill our dreams.”

Last year’s demonstrations decreased after a week of less than a week, when President Kenyan William Ruto withdrew his proposed tax increases.

But the anger of the public only intensified on the killed during the clashes of June 2024, as well as other deaths and the unexplained disappearances which followed.

“We are fighting for the rights of our young people and Kenyans and people who have died since June 25,” said Lumumba Harmony, demonstrator in Nairobi.

Determark Derrick Mwangi said that young people in Kenya “were enough.

“People are kidnapped, people are killed,” he said. “The police started using a force that is very bad at this rate.”

More recently, the demonstrators rallied in the name of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old blogger and teacher who died in police custody earlier this month.

Six people, including three police officers, was accused of his murder on Tuesday. All pleaded not guilty.

“If we had not gone to the street on Monday, June 11, they would have covered this death,” said Njehia. “So in Kenya, nothing has changed.”

President Pleas to Calm, the government closes the new televisions

Ruto urged demonstrators on Wednesday not to “destroy” the country.

“We don’t have another country where things go wrong. It is our responsibility to keep our country safe,” he said in coastal Kenya when demonstrators accused his Nairobi office.

The Kenya Communications Authority has ordered local media to stop broadcasting live emissions from the demonstration.

The Kenyan channels NTV and KTN were temporarily withdrawn from the air for challenging the order, but reassured the dissemination after a court deemed it unconstitutional.

“It just proves that the government is doing something wrong, and that is why they don’t want the masses to see what they are doing,” said Njehia.

She called on the international community to support the demonstrators.

“Things are not improving. In fact, things are getting worse. And we need help,” she said.

“Those of the international judicial system, they must come to help us, otherwise we will die, all of us.”

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With Reuters and Associated Press files. Interview with Sophie Mugure Njehia produced by Cassie Argao