Protests continue in Kenya, some call for the president to step down

NAIROBI, Kenya: Protests continued in Kenya s capital and elsewhere on Tuesday over a finance bill that would raise the cost of living, even after the...

NAIROBI, Kenya: Protests continued in Kenya's capital and elsewhere on Tuesday over a finance bill that would raise the cost of living, even after the president said he would not sign it in the wake of the storming of parliament last week.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in Nairobi as many businesses remained closed for fear of looting. The main highway to Kenya's second-largest city, Mombasa, was closed as protesters lit bonfires.

In Mombasa, five vehicles were burnt by protesters outside a hotel whose owner is alleged to have shot at protesters who were looting.

While there are concerns that President William Ruto might change his mind and sign the finance bill before next week's deadline, some protesters are also calling on Ruto to resign and accusing him of bad governance.

But some members of the youth-led protests have expressed worries that other Kenyans are using the unrest as an excuse to cause violence. "Goons have infiltrated," one organizer, Hanifa Farsafi, wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday.