NAIROBI: Human Rights Watch said Saturday at least 30 people were killed in protests in Kenya this week sparked by a government drive to substantially taxes hike in the African country. In a statement, the NGO said that Kenyan security forces shot directly into protesters on June 25, 2024. The statement added that although there is no confirmation on the exact number of people killed in the country’s capital city Nairobi and other towns, HRW found that around 30 people had been killed on that day based on witness accounts, publicly available information, mortuary and hospital records in Nairobi as well as witness accounts.
Otsieno Namwaya, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch said that shooting directly into crowds without any justification, including as protesters try to flee, is totally unacceptable under international and Kenyan law.
Namwaya stated that the Kenyan officials need to make clear to their forces that they should be protecting peaceful protests and that impunity for violence can no longer be accepted. The largely peaceful protest turned violent on Tuesday when legislators approved the deeply unpopular tax increases after pressure from the International Monetary Fund.
After the announcement of the vote, protestors stormed the parliament complex and a fire broke out in clashes first-time in the history of the African country since its independence from the UK in 1963. President William Ruto’s government ultimately withdrew the bill after the protest and violence.
