Protests against a contentious finance bill in Kenya intensified on Tuesday, with police in Nairobi resorting to firing live rounds at demonstrators. The bill has incited widespread unrest throughout the country since last week.
CNN reported seeing two bodies lying motionless outside the parliament building during the chaos. Protesters breached the assembly by breaking through the fence, subsequently vandalizing the premises by tearing up flags, overturning chairs and tables, and seizing the ceremonial mace, a key symbol of parliamentary authority. Part of the parliament fence was still ablaze at the time of the report.
Lawmakers present in the parliament building managed to escape through an underground tunnel, according to NTV Kenya.
Earlier in the day, Auma Obama, the half-sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was participating in the protests, was teargassed by police during a live interview with CNN. “I can’t even see anymore, we’re being teargassed,” she said.
President William Ruto has expressed his willingness to engage in dialogue with the youth leading the protests. However, security forces have faced accusations of abducting prominent Kenyans, particularly those with significant social media influence. Amnesty International Kenya is investigating the disappearances of up to 12 individuals who were reportedly “abducted in the middle of the night” before Tuesday’s demonstrations.
“We are horrified by some of the testimonies we have heard over the last 24 hours,” said Irũngũ Houghton, Amnesty Kenya’s executive director. “We have about 12 people unaccounted for who have been picked up, in many cases, by people who are uniformed or not uniformed.”
In response to the protests, certain provisions of the bill have been removed, including a 16 percent value-added tax (VAT) on bread, taxes on foreign exchange transactions and financial services, and a 2.5 percent car tax.
