NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday he won't sign into law a finance bill proposing new taxes, a day after protesters stormed parliament and several people were shot dead. It was the biggest assault on Kenya’s government in decades.
Kenyans faced the lingering smell of tear gas and military in the streets a day after the latest protests saw thousands storm parliament, an act of defiance that Ruto called an “existential” threat. At least 22 people were killed, a human rights group said.The capital, Nairobi, has seen protests in the past, but activists and others warned the stakes are more dangerous. Ruto on Tuesday vowed to quash unrest “at whatever cost," even as more protests were called at State House on Thursday.
He said Kenya's president missed an opportunity in his national address Tuesday night to calm tensions and adopt a more conciliatory approach. The mother of a teenager who was killed, Edith Wanjiku, told journalists at a morgue that the police who shot her son should be arrested and charged with murder because her 19-year-old son had been unarmed.Parliament, city hall and the supreme court were cordoned off Wednesday with tape reading “Crime Scene Do Not Enter.” Authorities said police fired over 700 blanks to disperse protesters in the Nairobi suburb of Githurai overnight. Videos of the gunfire were shared online.