Kenya arrests more than 350 people amid deadly protests | Objections

Demonstrations indicate a second year of protests in 2024 where 60 people were killed by security forces.

Kenyan police have dispersed protesters in the country’s capital and arrested some who took to the streets to commemorate the protesters who were killed in the city. anti-government rallies against the tax hike two years ago.

Home Affairs Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on Thursday that 355 people were arrested in various parts of the country. He called those arrested “terrorists” and apologized for using barricades and other security measures aimed at stopping the protests.

“We regret the inconvenience caused by this, and at the same time we appreciate their efforts to protect the city and other parts of the country,” Murkomen told reporters.

A Reuters reporter also saw police firing tear gas to disperse a peaceful gathering outside Nairobi’s police station after detaining six people outside the parliament building, where they had laid flowers.

According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the organizers had planned to celebrate the second anniversary of the protests which are about to end. 60 people died after protesters stormed the parliament premises in 2024.

But in Nairobi, shops and restaurants in the central business district were closed as police set up roads with water trucks.

Reporting from Nairobi, Al Jazeera’s Malcom Webb explained that the large police response to the demonstration was due to the government’s desire to avoid a repeat of what happened two years ago.

“This has come in the wake of various protests in recent weeks, some led by (President William) Ruto against politicians, others by motorists’ unions over the rise in fuel prices and discontent that has not happened since that day two years ago when many people were killed,” he said.

Opposition leaders joined the victims of police brutality and the families of protesters killed in the attack before heading to Parliament.

“As parents, we asked for permission to come here… to mourn and lay flowers for our children. But when we arrived, we were surprised because the police stopped us,” said Edith Wanjiku, whose 19-year-old son Ibrahim Kamau was killed in 2024.

“That’s a shame,” he continued.

“And one thing I would ask President Ruto: the police who killed the children – because they are known – just ask for justice for the children and compensation,” he added.

The organizers of the protest said they want to investigate the facts of the police’s actions in the past and to justify the excessive use of force.

Although Mr Ruto acknowledged what he called “extreme and unjust actions by members of the security forces” and said last week that two billion Kenyans ($15.5 million) had been set aside for victims of the protests, activists said it was not enough.