… Protesters raided Supermarket owned By Kenyan lawmaker, who voted in for Increased Tax
By Goodluck Ikiebe with Agency Reports
Protests against a controversial finance bill in Kenya escalated on Tuesday after police fired live rounds at demonstrators in Nairobi.
The bill has sparked widespread protests in Kenya since last week.
CNN reports that two bodies were lying motionless outside the parliament building on Tuesday.
Protesters forced their way into the assembly by breaking the fence. Once inside, they tore up flags, upturned chairs and tables, and stole the ceremonial mace.
The mace is the symbol of authority of parliament.
A section of the parliament fence was still on fire at the time of reporting.
Lawmakers, who were at the parliament building escaped through an underground tunnel, according to NTV Kenya.
Earlier, Auma Obama, the half-sister of former US President Barack Obama, who joined the protests, was teargassed by police during a live interview with CNN.
“I can’t even see anymore, we’re being teargassed,” Obama said.
On Sunday, President William Ruto said he is ready to dialogue with youths, who have sustained the protests.
However, security forces have been accused of abducting prominent Kenyans, especially those with huge social media following.
Amnesty International, Kenya says it is investigating the whereabouts of up to 12 people who were “abducted in the middle of the night” ahead of Tuesday’s demonstrations.
“We are horrified by some of the testimonies we have heard over the last 24 hours,” Irũngũ Houghton, Amnesty Kenya executive director, said.
“We have about 12 people unaccounted for who have been picked up, in many cases, by people who are uniformed or not uniformed.”
Undaunted, protesters raided Supermarket wned By Kenyan lawmaker, who voted in for Increased Tax
A group of the protesters in Nyeri raided Member of Parliament Njoroge Wainaina’s supermarket after he voted in favour of the controversial Finance Bill 2024.
In a video shared online, the protesters were seen storming Chieni Supermarket, looting various items including household goods and food products.
The angry mob also vandalised property, destroying furniture and throwing stones at the windows before setting the supermarket on fire.
Anti-riot police officers quickly arrived at the scene, deploying teargas to disperse the crowd and control the chaos. Firefighters soon joined the efforts to extinguish the fire.
The protests, initially centred in Nyeri, spread to other parts of the country, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Kericho, and Eldoret, indicating widespread discontent with the Finance Bill 2024
In the wake of the protests, some parts of the bill have been expunged, including a 16 percent value-added tax (VAT) on bread, taxes on foreign exchange transactions and financial services, and a 2.5 percent car tax.
