Stones, tear gas, looting: in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the call for demonstrations against President Ruto’s government, as part of a protest movement that began in mid-June, resulted in clashes and incidents.

Demonstrations involving hundreds of people were also held in other cities (Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru…). In Mombasa, the country’s second largest city, cars were set on fire and at least one shop was looted, according to footage broadcast by Kenyan television.

Kenya has been rocked for two weeks by a wave of protest, sparked by the proposed 2024-2025 budget, which included new taxes, cementing wider resentment against William Ruto, the president-elect in 2022.

The mobilizations of the movement, which has no real leader and organization, were marked on June 25 by a bloodbath, when the police opened fire with live bullets on the crowd that had stormed the parliament.

At least 39 people have been killed since the first demonstration on June 18, including at least 22 on June 25, according to the official authority for the protection of human rights (KNHCR). For its part, the Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch) spoke of 31 deaths on June 25. Authorities have given a death toll of 19, without specifying a date.

Despite the announcement by the country’s president that he would withdraw the budget plan, calls for mobilization continued, but the response was mixed, especially from “Generation Z” (young people born after 1997), who were at the heart of movement.

Like last Thursday, the peaceful crowd of early protests gave way today, during the rally in Nairobi’s business district, to groups of youths throwing stones at law enforcement, who responded with tear gas.

In the district, many shops remained closed, but this fact did not prevent looting.

The police made arrests, AFP journalists reported.

“Bad elements have infiltrated,” Hanifa Adan, one of the faces of the protest movement, said in a message to X.

In a symbolic act, protesters placed coffins on the central avenue of the business district, which were soon removed by police.

Protesters also blocked other thoroughfares, with police using tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd.

The demonstrations denounce the fiscal policy of the president, as well as the bloody repression of the movement.

“We want justice for the innocent Kenyans killed by the police during peaceful protests,” said Marilyn Wangui, a 24-year-old protester in Nakuru, who held a placard reading “Ruto must go.”