Tuesday’s anti-Finance Bill protest turned violent as Kenyan police fired live rounds at protesters, resulting in approximately ten deaths and 50 injuries.
Despite President William Ruto’s withdrawal of the controversial Finance Bill proposing taxes on certain commodities on Wednesday, Kenyans have mobilised for a ‘one million people’ march to shut down the country on Thursday.
A flyer for the “One Million People March” has circulated on the internet as Kenyans insist on shutting down operations across the nation on Thursday.
“For those around Nairobi, block all roads leading to the city on Thursday,” the flyer reads.
Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan photojournalist, shared the “one million people march” flyer on X, saying, “Yesterday they unleashed goons, and police to kill peaceful protestors. That will not stop us. See you tomorrow at the one million people march. He can’t kill us all.”
“All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya,” Hanifa Adan, a journalist and activist, said on X on Wednesday. “You cannot kill all of us. Tomorrow we march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people. You will not be forgotten.”
Tuesday’s anti-Finance Bill protest turned violent as Kenyan police fired live rounds at protesters, resulting in approximately ten deaths and 50 injuries.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International reported 23 deaths from police shootings nationwide during the protests, along with “over 50 arrests, 22 abductions, and more than 300 injuries.”
The international community, including the U.S., UK, Canada, Belgium, and others, expressed concerns over Tuesday’s killings of protesters by Kenyan police in a joint statement.
Amid sustained protests on Wednesday, Mr Ruto, who previously labelled the anti-tax protests as “treasonous,” refused to sign the bill into law and announced its withdrawal.
“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede, and therefore, I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Mr Ruto said.
Since assuming office in 2022, Mr Ruto has imposed taxes in an effort to address Kenya’s national debt of approximately $80 billion and reduce borrowing. However, the controversial Finance Bill proposing taxes on cars, bread, phones, sanitary pads, and other commodities has faced strong opposition, leading Kenyans to take to the streets over the past two weeks.
