Kenya protesters demand president ‘Ruto must go!’, amid police tear gas, stones and flames
- The unrest signalled President William Ruto failed to appease a youth protest movement, despite abandoning plans for tax rises that triggered riots
Riot police fired tear gas grenades and charged at stone-throwing protesters in downtown Nairobi and across Kenya on Tuesday, in the most widespread unrest since at least two dozen protesters died in clashes a week ago.
The nationwide demonstrations signalled that President William Ruto had failed to appease a spontaneous youth protest movement, despite having abandoned plans for tax rises that triggered the unrest last week.
Tuesday’s demonstrations began in an ebullient mood but turned violent as the day wore on. In Nairobi’s downtown business district, police wearing helmets and carrying shields and wooden clubs charged at the protesters, and tear gas bombs exploded in the crowds.
A kiosk was set ablaze in the centre of a street. Doctors tended to a youth who lay on the pavement with a bloody hand. Police bundled other youths into the bed of a pickup truck.
Outside the capital, hundreds of protesters marched through Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, on the Indian Ocean coast. They carried palm fronds, blew on plastic horns and beat on drums, chanting “Ruto must go!”
Later, Kenya’s NTV television reported two people shot in Mombasa, showing pictures of cars ablaze.
