At least 56 were admitted to hospital many of them with bullet wounds after countrywide demonstrations across Kenya on Wednesday to commemorate the first anniversary of violent anti-tax protests, said a hospital source.
Thousands of protesters marched through major towns, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kitengela, Kisii, Matuu, and Nyeri, in memory of more than 60 individuals who were killed in such protests last year. The demonstrations soon became violent, with police using tear gas and water cannons to drive crowds back, local media and witnesses said.
Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said it had received 56 patients by 4 p.m., and most were rubber bullet victims. “No deaths have been reported so far,” a hospital spokesman said. The identity of the perpetrators of the shootings is not certain, and police spokesman Muchiri Nyaga would not comment.
In Nairobi, demonstrators marched on State House the presidential compound leading authorities to declare a media blackout. One of Kenya’s largest broadcasters, NTV, was pulled off the air after defying an order by the Communications Authority of Kenya to stop live coverage of the protests. “We are only live on YouTube and our site now,” a spokesman for NTV’s parent company said. Broadcaster KTN was similarly pulled off the air but promised to keep up with coverage through social media sites.
In the town of Kikuyu, demonstrators burned a courthouse, with video depicting heavy smoke pouring from the courthouse. The violence follows continuing public indignation over police brutality, and continuing to be exacerbated by the recent custodial death of blogger and educator Albert Ojwang.
Six people, among them three police officers, have been charged with the murder of Ojwang. “We are standing in defense of our fellow Kenyan citizens and victims of police brutality,” protester Lumumba Harmony said in Nairobi.
The protests last year ended in violent protests outside Kenya’s parliament, prompting one of President William Ruto’s biggest crises since taking office.
