At least 16 people have been killed and 400 injured in Kenya as a nationwide demonstration to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests turned chaotic, with police clashing with protesters in different parts of the country.Amnesty International Kenya’s executive director, Irũngũ Houghton, said that the death toll had been verified by the government-funded Kenya national commission on human rights. “Most were killed by police,” he said, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
A joint statement from groups supporting the protests said 83 people were seriously injured and at least eight people were being treated for gunshot wounds.
“We pray for our nation, dialogue and a way forward from the political impasse facing Kenya,” said the statement from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the Police Reforms Working Group and the Kenya Medical Association.
Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets early on Wednesday to pay tribute to more than 60 people who died last year when police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm parliament while MPs inside passed legislation to raise taxes.
“We face an unfortunate paradox as a country where more lives are being lost as the people seek justice for the lives already lost,” the LSK’s president, Faith Odhiambo, said on X. “Our hearts break for all the victims of the continued trend of police brutality and excesses.”
In Nairobi, police barricaded major roads a few kilometres from the central business district and turned away buses and minibuses further away from the city centre. They also blocked off access to key buildings, including the parliament and the official residence of the president, William Ruto, with razor wire.
In the city centre, where many businesses were closed, thousands gathered for the march, waving Kenyan flags and placards with images of victims of last year’s protests.
Others lit street fires and chanted slogans against Ruto. Later, violence ensued, with police firing teargas and water cannon and hitting protesters with batons, while protesters threw stones and other objects.
The planned marches also developed into clashes between civilians and police in the cities of Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu and other parts of the country. Protesters torched parts of court buildings in Kikuyu town in Kiambu county.
The communications authority of Kenya ordered TV and radio stations to stop live coverage of the protests, threatening those that failed to follow the directive with regulatory action. The TV stations NTV, KTN, K24 and Kameme were later taken off air.
Lawmakers left parliament buildings in Nairobi, and protests continued to intensify in the city centre. Elsewhere, throngs of people marched along major roads towards the capital.
