New antigovernment protests kick off in Kenya with calls for Ruto to quit
Al Jazeera
Police fire tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Nairobi and other cities as casualties reported.
Hundreds of antigovernment protesters have taken to the streets of Kenya demanding that embattled President William Ruto resign.
Tuesday’s demonstrations, spanning from the capital, Nairobi to the southern coastal town of Mombasa, are the latest bout of unrest since government-planned tax hikes prompted mass anger in mid-June.
Reporting from Nairobi, Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, said police were firing tear gas “abundantly” in the city centre, trying to stop any crowds from forming.
In the nearby town of Kitengala, some 200 protesters burned tyres and chanted “Ruto must go”. At least one person was killed, according to a witness quoted by the Reuters news agency.
In Mombasa, in the south, more protesters marched waving palm fronds, footage from Kenyan media showed.