At least 16 people have been killed in nationwide rallies against police brutality and government corruption in Kenya, according to Amnesty International and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
Another 400 people were injured on Wednesday, including protesters, police and journalists. The casualties included people hit by live fire and others who were wounded by rubber bullets, or were beaten, and were primarily in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Demonstrators had clashed with police, who hurled tear gas canisters and wielded batons. The protests mark one year since people stormed parliament at the peak of antigovernmentdemonstrations.
Thousands took to the streets to commemorate last year’s youth-led demonstrations against tax rises, during which at least 60 people were killed by security forces, according to rights groups.
Among the crowds in the capital, some waved Kenyan flags and placards with pictures of demonstrators killed last year and chanted “Ruto must go”, referring to President William Ruto, whose proposed tax hikes triggered last year’s youth-led protests.
“I’ve come here as a Kenyan youth to protest.
It is our right for the sake of our fellow Kenyans who were killed last year. The police are here … they are supposed to protect us, but they kill us,” Eve, a 24-year-old woman, told the AFP news agency.
“It is extremely important that the young people mark June 25th because they lost people who look like them, who speak like them … who are fighting for good governance,” said Angel Mbuthia, chair of the youth league for the opposition Jubilee Party.
Protesters also gathered in various other parts of the country, including in the town of Matuu, approximately 100km (62 miles) from the capital, where there were reports of clashes.
Police blocked main roads leading into the capital’s central business district, while government buildings were barricaded with razor wire.
The government ordered TV and radio stations to halt live coverage of the protests.
NetBlocks, a global internet tracker, said social media platform Telegram had been restricted. And Kenyan broadcaster KTN was taken off the air later on Wednesday, a senior official at its parent company, Nation Media Group, said.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Nairobi, said protests across the country “have been met with a lot of violence by the police”.
About a dozen people have been treated for gunshot wounds, he said, citing local media reports.
Kenya’s Citizen TV reported that protesters torched court facilities in Kikuyu on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Isolated clashes were reported in the port city of Mombasa, according to NTV, with protests also in the towns of Kitengela, Kisii, Matuu and Nyeri.
Source: Newzimbabwe
.
