Kenya on edge: Will anti-tax protests erupt again amid national strike?
Al Jazeera
Demonstrators are angry at a new finance bill that President Ruto says is necessary to offset heavy public debt.
Protesters plan to hit Kenya’s streets on Tuesday after calling for a nationwide strike as they seek to pressure the government over controversial tax reforms that are before the parliament.
The government has warned protesters against engaging in violence, and has insisted that they must wind up their agitation by 6:30pm local time (15:00 GMT) or sunset, whichever is earlier.
But the government is to blame for the violence that has so far afflicted the protests, say critics of President William Ruto.
One person died as police in Kenya opened fire on thousands of angry protesters on Thursday amid mass demonstrations against the proposed law. At least 200 people were injured and more than 100 arrested in the clashes, according to Amnesty International and other human rights groups.
The protests, which started last Tuesday, have been led by young Kenyans and have been largely peaceful. But on Thursday, as the crowds grew bigger in the capital Nairobi, antiriot police, some of them on horseback, launched tear gas canisters and aimed water cannon to try to hold back demonstrators from breaching government offices in the city’s business district.
