Kenyan police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse young protesters in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday, AFP reporters saw, escalating tensions as demonstrators rallied across the country against proposed tax hikes.
But hundreds of chanting demonstrators were met by a heavy police presence early Tuesday in Nairobi’s business district.Officers in full riot gear blocked access to parliament, where lawmakers are debating a finance bill containing the tax proposals. Crowds also marched in the port city of Mombasa, the opposition bastion of Kisumu, and Ruto’s stronghold of Eldoret, images on Kenyan TV channels showed.The protests have been mostly peaceful, as Ruto noted Sunday in his first public comments on the demonstrations.
Kenya has a huge debt mountain whose servicing costs have ballooned because of a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, making interest payments on foreign-currency loans more expensive.