Kenya police fire tear gas as opposition stages new protests

 

Kenyan police officers remove barricades from a highway during riots in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi on May 2, 2023. PHOTO | AFP

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AFP

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Summary

·         Tear gas canisters were launched at members of opposition leader Raila Odinga's Azimio la Umoja (One Kenya) coalition near President William Ruto's office in downtown Nairobi

Nairobi. Kenyan riot police fired tear gas on opposition MPs Tuesday during a new round of anti-government demonstrations over a cost-of-living crisis and last year's disputed election.

Tear gas canisters were launched at members of opposition leader Raila Odinga's Azimio la Umoja (One Kenya) coalition near President William Ruto's office in downtown Nairobi, according to footage of the incident.

The MPs were seeking to deliver a petition over what Azimio has described as the "unacceptably high" cost of food, fuel and electricity.

The demonstrations took place despite a police ban after protests in March spiralled into chaos and violence that left three people dead.

A number of other incidents were reported in the capital on Tuesday although across most of the city the situation was calm.

Several vehicles including a bus and a truck were torched in Nairobi, while youths set tyres ablaze and blocked roads in several slums, witnesses said.

"What kind of protests are these now, why are they stoning people? My car has been damaged and I am just doing my own business," said taxi driver Duncan Mukuche, whose vehicle had come under attack.

Protesters also set fires and used rocks to block roads in and out of Odinga's lakeside stronghold of Kisumu in western Kenya, they said.

Violence erupted during the March demonstrations as police fired tear gas on demonstrators, including Odinga's own motorcade, and gangs went on the rampage, attacking people and property.

Nairobi regional police commander Adamson Bungei had announced Sunday that Azimio had been denied permission to hold the new demonstrations.

'Nonsense'

But the coalition had insisted the action would go ahead.

"Police cannot decide in advance that there shall be violence and then proceed to ban political activities that are protected by the constitution. That is the making of dictatorship," it said in a statement Monday.

Odinga's side had in April announced a halt to the demonstrations to allow bipartisan talks to take place, but the process appears to have stalled amid disputes over the modalities of the dialogue.

As well as the petition to Ruto's office, Azimio said it would submit a petition to the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission showing that the results of the August election were "doctored".

Odinga narrowly lost to Ruto -- his fifth presidential election defeat -- and continues to insist that the poll was fraudulent and that victory was "stolen".

Ruto, who critics say has broken several campaign promises since taking office in September, has branded the opposition action as "nonsense".

"No property will be destroyed again. The government will stand firm to ensure and protect the life, property and business of every Kenyan," he said at the weekend.

His government has voiced concerns about the impact of the demonstrations on the economy, which is slowly recovering after the Covid-19 pandemic, but is facing high inflation and a huge debt mountain as well as a plunging currency.