At least 200 people were injured and more than 100 arrested in Kenya on Thursday during nationwide protests against a government plan to raise an additional $2.7 billion in taxes, a coalition of rights groups said.
Five rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Kenya Medical Association, said in a joint statement late Thursday that police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters in the capital, Nairobi.
He said the presence of used cartridges indicated that live cartridges were used.
An unidentified man died at Bliss Hospital after he was shot in the thigh during the protest, the Daily Nation newspaper reported.
A 29-year-old man died while being treated for a thigh wound at the same hospital on Thursday night, according to a police report seen by Reuters. The report did not say how he was injured, but it is believed he is the same man mentioned by the newspaper.
Nairobi County police commander Adamson Bungei did not respond to phone calls.
“We commend the thousands of protesters, many of them young people, who are protesting peacefully and exercising restraint and decency despite police provocation,” the group said.
The protesters want the government to abandon the finance bill altogether as they say it will hurt the economy and increase the cost of living for Kenyans who are already struggling to make ends meet.
However, the International Monetary Fund says the government needs to raise revenues to reduce the budget deficit and state borrowing.
Earlier this week, the government softened its stance slightly, with President William Ruto backing recommendations to scrap some of the new levies, including on car ownership, bread, cooking oil and financial transactions.
Despite massive protests that hit 19 of Kenya’s 47 counties, lawmakers on Thursday passed the finance bill in the second stage, sending the controversial tax proposals to the next stage for approval.
Lawmakers are expected to meet on Tuesday to vote on proposed changes to the bill, which parliament’s budget committee says will lead to a loss of 200 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.56 billion) from the 2024/25 budget, and force the government to cut spending.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
