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Kenya Anti-tax Protests Death Toll Hits 13

Published

12 months ago

June 26, 2024

Editor

The death toll from protests in Kenya has climbed to 13, an official from the main doctors’ association told AFP Wednesday, after anti-tax hike rallies turned violent and police opened fire at demonstrators who ransacked parliament.

The unprecedented scenes that left parts of parliament ablaze and gutted and injured scores of people on Tuesday have shocked Kenyans and prompted President William Ruto’s government to deploy the military.

The mainly youth-led rallies began mostly peacefully last week, with thousands of demonstrators marching in the capital Nairobi and across the country against the tax increases.

But tensions flared sharply on Tuesday afternoon, as police officers fired live rounds on crowds that later ransacked the parliament complex.

Hours later, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale announced that the government had deployed the army to support the police in tackling “the security emergency” in the country.

“So far, we have at least 13 people killed, but this is not the final number,” Simon Kigondu, president of the Kenya Medical Association said, adding that he had never seen “such level of violence against unarmed people.”

“Deaths, mayhem”, read the front-page headline on the Standard newspaper, while the Daily Nation described the situation as “Pandemonium”, saying: “The foundations of the country have been shaken to the core.”

An official at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said Wednesday that medics were treating “160 people… some of them with soft tissue injuries, some of them with bullet wounds”.

In a late-night press briefing, Ruto warned that his government would take a tough line against “violence and anarchy”, likening some of the demonstrators to “criminals”.

“It is not in order or even conceivable that criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters can reign terror against the people, their elected representatives and the institutions established under our constitution and expect to go scot-free,” he said.

The government has been taken by surprise by the intensity of opposition to its tax proposals –- mostly led by young, Gen-Z Kenyans — which culminated in the scenes at parliament that played out live on television.

Images shared on local TV stations after crowds broke through the barricades showed the building ransacked, with burnt furniture and smashed windows.

As police fired at the angry crowds, leaving several bodies strewn on the ground, protest organisers urged people to walk home together and “stay safe”.

– ‘Madness’ –

A heavy police presence was deployed around parliament early on Wednesday, according to an AFP reporter, the smell of tear gas still in the air.

A policeman standing in front of the broken barricades to the complex told AFP he had watched the scenes unfold on TV.

“It was madness, we hope it will be calm today,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the rallies in various Kenyan cities had been largely peaceful.

However, tensions escalated in Nairobi later in the day, with some protesters hurling stones at police, who deployed tear gas and water cannons before firing live bullets.

AFP journalists saw three people bleeding heavily and lying motionless on the ground near parliament.

– ‘Brute force’ –

The unrest has alarmed the international community, with the White House appealing for calm and more than 10 Western nations — including Canada, Germany and Britain — saying they were “especially shocked by the scenes witnessed outside the Kenyan Parliament”.

UN chief Antonio Guterres and the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, have also expressed deep concern.

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who heads the Azimio coalition, accused the government of unleashing “brute force on our country’s children”.

Rights watchdogs have also accused the authorities of abducting protesters.

The police have not responded to any AFP requests for comment.

– Cost of living –

Long-running grievances over the rising cost of living spiralled last week as lawmakers began debating proposed tax hikes in the 2024 finance bill.

The cash-strapped government says the increases are needed to service the country’s massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), equal to roughly 70 per cent of Kenya’s GDP.

After rolling back some of the more controversial proposals — which would have affected bread purchases, car ownership, and financial and mobile services — the government now intends to increase fuel prices and export duties.

Kenya’s treasury has warned of a gaping budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings, following Ruto’s decision to roll back some of the tax hikes.

While Kenya is among East Africa’s most dynamic economies, a third of its 52 million population live in poverty.

AFP

Headline

Nine Dead In Austria School Shooting

Published

4 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

A mass shooting at a secondary school in Austria’s second-largest city has left nine people dead and at least 10 others injured in what authorities are calling one of the country’s worst school attacks in recent history, Al-Jazeera reported.

Police were called to BORG Dreierschutzengasse school in Graz on Tuesday morning after reports of gunfire. Emergency services responded swiftly and secured the area.

Authorities later confirmed that the suspected shooter had died by suicide, bringing the total number of dead to ten, including the attacker.

According to local officials, at least seven of those killed were students. Graz Mayor Elke Kahr described the shooting as a “terrible tragedy.” One adult was also among the dead, though their identity has not yet been released.

The incident reportedly began shortly after 10 a.m. local time and unfolded across two classrooms. Students, many aged 14 and older, were evacuated and are now receiving psychological support alongside their families.

The attacker is believed to have acted alone and is reported to be a former school student. The motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

Headline

17 Palestinians Killed In Israeli Strikes Near Gaza Aid Site

Published

4 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured on Tuesday near a humanitarian aid distribution site in central Gaza, according to local health authorities as reported by Reuters.

The casualties reportedly occurred as large crowds of displaced residents gathered in the area to receive aid.

The deaths were attributed to Israeli gunfire by Gaza’s health officials.

The Israeli military said its forces had fired warning shots at “suspects who were advancing in the area of Wadi Gaza and posed a threat to the troops.”

It added that it was aware of reports that several were injured, but said numbers released by local health authorities did not align with the information it had collected.

“The warning shots were fired hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours and toward the suspects who posed a threat to the troops,” the military added.

Medics confirmed that those injured were transported to Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.

The Israeli military contested the reported casualty figures but acknowledged that several people were wounded during the incident.

The shooting occurred in an area where the military has labelled a hazardous zone for its personnel.

This came after a warning issued last week by the Israeli army, advising Palestinians to avoid roads leading to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., which were designated as “closed military zones.”

The incident adds to growing concerns over civilian safety amid ongoing conflict in Gaza. Just last week, at least 27 Palestinians were reported killed near another aid site in Rafah, also by Israeli fire.

That event marked the third consecutive day of disruption to aid operations, according to local health officials.

“Day after day, casualties & scores of injured are reported at distribution points manned by Israel & private security companies,” Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X.

“This humiliating system continues to force thousands of hungry & desperate people to walk for tens of miles excluding the most vulnerable & those living too far,” he said.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, single deadliest day.

Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.

AFP

Headline

Britain’s Jobless Rate Climbs To 4.6% As Economy Weakens

Published

5 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

Britain’s unemployment rate has reached its highest level since July 2021, according to official data released on Tuesday, following a UK tax rise and the implementation of US tariffs.

The rate climbed to 4.6 percent in the three months to the end of April, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That compared with 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the ONS added.

Tuesday’s data covers the start of a hike in business tax laid out in the Labour government’s inaugural budget last October.

April also saw the beginning of a baseline 10-percent tariff imposed on the UK and other countries by US President Donald Trump.

“There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably,” said ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown.

“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.”

Analysts said the data, which included slowing growth to wages, would likely see the Bank of England continue to cut interest rates into 2026, weighing on the pound but lifting London’s stock market in early trade on Tuesday.

“With payrolls falling, the unemployment rate climbing and wage growth easing, today’s labour market release leaves us more confident in our view that the Bank of England will cut interest rates further than investors expect, to 3.50 percent next year,” noted Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group.

The Bank of England last trimmed borrowing costs in May by a quarter point to 4.25 percent.

AFP