Kenyan police fired tear gas \u200con Thursday to disperse protesters in Nairobi after dozens took to the streets in memory of demonstrators killed two years ago in anti-government rallies against tax hikes and the cost of living.<\/p>\n
Organisers had planned marches to mark the second\u00a0anniversary\u00a0of the unrest, when protesters \u200bbreached parliament grounds before a crackdown left at least 60 people dead, according to the Kenya National Commission \u200bon Human Rights.<\/p>\n
A Reuters correspondent saw police fire tear gas to scatter people gathering \u2060peacefully at Nairobi’s main police station after security forces detained at least six outside parliament, where they \u200bhad laid flowers.<\/p>\n
Footage broadcast on Citizen TV also showed police firing tear gas on the outskirts of Nairobi.<\/p>\n
In Mombasa, dozens \u200bof marchers had earlier been escorted by security forces.<\/p>\n
CENTRAL NAIROBI SHUTS DOWN AHEAD OF PROTEST MARCH<\/strong><\/p>\n But in the capital, shops and restaurants within the central business district had remained shut as police set up roadblocks with water cannon trucks, and cordoned parliament off with razor-wire.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we remember \u200bour comrades who died in the demonstrations,” said John Maina, 26. “They were not fighting for any profit … It\u2019s not a \u200bprotest, it\u2019s a remembrance.”<\/p>\n Opposition leaders joined victims of alleged\u00a0police brutality\u00a0and families of slain protesters heading to parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cAs parents, we sought permission \u200cjust to \u2060come here … to mourn and lay flowers for our children. But when we arrived, we were shocked because the police blocked us,” said Edith Wanjiku, whose 19-year-old son Ibrahim Kamau was killed in 2024. “That is very shameful.”<\/p>\n “And one thing I would ask of President (William) Ruto: those police officers who killed the children – because they \u200bare known – I am only \u200basking for justice for \u2060those children and also compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen had said anyone seeking to engage in “chaos, looting, destroy property, disrupt businesses, or commit any other criminal acts” would be dealt with \u200bseverely.<\/p>\n Protest organisers say they want credible investigations into past police conduct and guarantees against the \u200buse of \u2060excessive force.<\/p>\n Ruto has acknowledged \u201cinstances of excessive and extrajudicial actions by members of the security services\u201d, and said last week that 2 billion shillings ($15.5 million) had been set aside for\u00a0victims of protest-related\u00a0abuses.<\/p>\n However, civil society organisations want more.<\/p>\n “Every time there is a \u2060protest, innocent \u200bKenyans are killed. Because these killer cops are not being \u200barrested. They are not being held to account,” said activist Hussein Khalid.<\/p>\n “We will continue pushing for justice … they will not hoodwink us with \u200bmoney.” ($1 = 129.2000 Kenyan shillings)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kenyan police fired tear gas \u200con Thursday to disperse protesters in Nairobi after dozens took to the streets in memory of demonstrators killed two years ago in anti-government rallies against tax hikes and the cost of living. Organisers had planned marches to mark the second\u00a0anniversary\u00a0of the unrest, when protesters \u200bbreached parliament grounds before a crackdown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2362,33,34],"tags":[111,1395],"class_list":["post-21220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-featured","category-politics","category-society","tag-kenya","tag-nairobi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21221,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220\/revisions\/21221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}