Protesters throwing rocks and police firing tear gas clash in the Mathare neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living were back protesting on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday, as they awaited a speech by a longtime opposition leader. (AP Photo)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One person was killed as some Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living went back into the streets Wednesday in the latest of a series of protests.
Some protesters in the capital, Nairobi, burned tires and dismantled part of an entrance to a recently built expressway.
In the town of Emali, on the highway between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, one protester was killed and a police car was set on fire, according to a local police official, Joseph Ole Naipeyan.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost last year’s election to President William Ruto, has repeatedly called on Kenyans to protest as the country struggles with debt and rising prices.
Odinga told journalists on Wednesday that such protests will continue, and he accused police of blocking access to the site where he had planned to make a speech. He also accused police of using excessive force against protesters.
“All our engagements are peaceful until the police show up,” Odinga said.
New taxes have added to frustration in East Africa’s economic hub, with inflation at around 8%. Taxes on petroleum products, including gasoline, have doubled from 8% to 16%, a move which is expected to have a ripple effect.
Odinga called on Ruto to repeal the act imposing the new tax measures. “People are tired of going to bed hungry, facing the new day hungry and returning to bed hungry,” he said.
Most Kenyans either get on with their day or stay home during such demonstrations.
Police have been criticized by human rights watchdogs for their response to such protests and for their assertion that any demonstration needs advance notification “in the interest of national security.” Kenya’s constitution includes the right to peacefully demonstrate.
“All lawful means will be used to disperse such demonstrations,” the national police inspector general, Japhet Koome, said in a letter Tuesday calling Wednesday’s protests “illegal.”
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