Five people were shot dead and dozens wounded in Kenya on Tuesday in mounting anti-tax hike protests, NGOs said, after police clashed with demonstrators who stormed the parliament compound in Nairobi.

The military has been deployed to support police, who earlier fired tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets and — according to a rights group — live ammunition against protesters, as tensions sharply escalated in protests that have caught the government off guard.

“Despite the assurance by the government that the right to assembly would be protected and facilitated, today’s protests have spiraled into violence,” several NGOs, including Amnesty Kenya, said a joint statement that reported the dead and wounded.

The White House appealed for calm and more than 10 Western nations — including Canada, Germany and Britain — said they were “especially shocked by the scenes witnessed outside the Kenyan Parliament”.

Mainly youth-led rallies have galvanised outrage over proposed tax hikes and simmering anger over a cost-of-living crisis to fuel rapidly growing demonstrations.

“This is the voice of the young people of Kenya,” said Elizabeth Nyaberi, 26, a lawyer at a protest. “They are tear gassing us, but we don’t care.”

“We are here to speak for our generations and the generations to come,” she added.

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The protests had been largely peaceful but chaos erupted in the capital Tuesday, with crowds throwing stones at police, pushing past barricades and ultimately entering the grounds of Kenya’s parliament.

Amid the clashes, global web monitor NetBlocks reported that a “major disruption” had hit the country’s internet service.

– ‘Unleashed brute force’ –

In the aftermath of the parliament compound breach, local TV showed images of ransacked rooms with smashed windows, while cars parked outside were vandalised and flags destroyed, according to an AFP reporter.

The governor’s office in Nairobi City Hall — just a few hundred metres from parliament — was set alight, footage on privately owned Citizen TV showed, with a water cannon attempting to douse the fire.

After reports that live ammunition was fired at protesters, Kenya’s main opposition coalition, Azimio, said the government had “unleashed brute force on our country’s children”.

“Kenya cannot afford to kill its children just because the children are asking for food, jobs and a listening ear,” it said in a statement.

The military’s deployment was “in response to the security emergency” across Kenya, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale said in a statement.

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Earlier in the day, despite the heavy police presence, thousands of protesters had marched peacefully through Nairobi’s business district, pushing back against barricades as they headed towards parliament.

As protesters gained ground in their push towards parliament, many were livestreaming the action as they sang and beat drums.

Crowds also marched in the port city of Mombasa, the opposition bastion of Kisumu, and Kenyan President William Ruto’s stronghold of Eldoret, images on Kenyan TV channels showed.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority watchdog and rights groups said two people had died following last week’s rallies in Nairobi.

Several organisations, including Amnesty International Kenya, said at least 200 people were wounded in last week’s protests in Nairobi.

Amnesty’s Kenya chapter posted on X Tuesday that “the pattern of policing protests is deteriorating fast”, urging the government to respect demonstrators’ right to assembly.

Rights watchdogs have also accused the authorities of abducting protesters.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission said the abductions had mostly occurred at night and were “conducted by police officers in civilian clothes and unmarked cars”, calling for the “unconditional release of all abductees”.

Police have not responded to AFP requests for comment on the allegations.

READ ALSO: One Dead, 200 Injured In Kenya Tax Protests

– Fuel price hikes –

The cash-strapped government agreed last week to roll back several tax increases.

But it still intends to raise other taxes, saying they are necessary for filling the state coffers and cutting reliance on external borrowing.

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.

The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans, with well-paid jobs remaining out of reach for many young people.

After the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership and financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.56 billion).

The government now intends to target an increase in fuel prices and export taxes to fill the void left by the changes, a move critics say will make life more expensive in a country already saddled with high inflation.

Kenya has one of the most dynamic economies in East Africa but a third of its 52 million people live in poverty.

AFP

Dr Ibrahim Inuwa, the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi state chapter, on Tuesday, said the union was not a trouble making one.

Inuwa, who stated this during a three-day Town Hall meeting for education stakeholders to sensitize them on the plights of its members, said sometimes, harsh decisions needed to be taken to enhance the education system of the country.

He explained that the meeting was to also call the attention of education stakeholders in Nigeria on what has been happening between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the government.

According to him, the meeting would also be used as an avenue to get feedback from the stakeholders as well as advice on how to go about the union’s struggle.

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“The meeting is basically for us to rob minds with these stakeholders and to drive the misconception most stakeholders have about ASUU that we are trouble makers and that we don’t want peace.

“We had to call their attention that education is a business of everybody and that has been reflected in the spirit of our constitution.

“So, it’s an obligation of the government to provide education. It’s a right because the constitution of this country defines our sovereignty and that is where the politicians derive their power to rule us.

“What they are calling us to be troublemakers, we are not but if we have to get it right in this country, education must be given priority.

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“We took them through our various troubles, the challenges we have been having, the nonchalant attitude of the government as well as other emerging issues that are coming up and this is where the trouble making issues came up.

“Most times we go for industrial action, people are quick to say that we should explore other avenues of negotiation and for more than one year, we have been trying to do that with this new regime.

“Before they came on board, they met with the union and they expressed concerns that they wanted to address this issue.

“Unfortunately, till now, there have been no meaningful commitments from the government to address this issue and it’s making the challenges in the Universities to be biting day by day,” he said.

The ASUU boss further said at the end of townhall meetings across the zones, ASUU National Executive Council would meet to harness all the views and opinions to enable it take a definite and lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the tertiary education sector.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has issued a medical product alert on falsified semaglutides, the type of medicines that are used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity in some countries.

The alert addresses 3 falsified batches of products of the semaglutide class of medicines (of specific brand Ozempic), which have been detected in Brazil in October 2023, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in October 2023, and the United States of America in December 2023.

WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSM) has been observing increased reports on falsified semaglutide products in all geographical regions since 2022.

This is the first official notice issued by WHO after confirmation of some of the reports.

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The WHO Assistant Director-General for Essential Medicines and Health Products, Dr Yukiko Nakatani said: “WHO advises healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities and the public to be aware of these falsified batches of medicines. We call on stakeholders to stop any usage of suspicious medicines and report to relevant authorities”.

The semaglutides, including the specific brand product that has been falsified, are prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes to lower their blood sugar levels. Semaglutides also reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.

Most semaglutide products must be injected under the skin every week but they are also available as tablets taken by mouth daily. These medicines are shown to suppress appetite in addition to lowering blood sugar levels and therefore are being increasingly prescribed for weight loss in some countries.

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WHO has been observing increased demand for these medicines as well as reports on falsification. These falsified products could have harmful effects on people’s health; if the products don’t have the necessary raw components, falsified medicines can lead to health complications resulting from unmanaged blood glucose levels or weight. In other cases, another undeclared active ingredient may be contained in the injection device, e.g. insulin, leading to an unpredictable range of health risks or complications.

Semaglutides are not part of WHO-recommended treatments for diabetes management due to their current high cost. The cost barrier makes these products unsuitable for a public health approach, which aims to ensure the widest possible access to medicines at the population level and to strike a balance between the best-established standard of care and what is feasible on a large scale in resource-limited settings.

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Also, there are more affordable treatments available for diabetes, with similar effects to those of semaglutides on blood sugar and cardiovascular risk.

WHO is currently working on a rapid advice guideline on the possible use of GLP-1 RAs, including semaglutides, for the treatment of obesity in adults and as part of a more comprehensive model of care.

To protect themselves from falsified medicines and their harmful effects, patients who are using these products can take actions such as buying medicines with prescriptions from licensed physicians and avoid buying medicines from unfamiliar or unverified sources, such as those that may be found online.

WHO urged people to always check packaging and expiry dates of medicines when they buy them, and use the products as prescribed.

In the case of injectable semaglutides, patients should ensure they are stored in the refrigerator.