NAIROBI – Anti-government protesters in Kenya’s capital clashed with an emerging pro-government group on Tuesday, with hundreds swarming and burning a motorcycle belonging to people who expressed support for the country's president. The military made a rare deployment as the protests focused on the country's main airport.
The weeks of turmoil in East Africa's economic hub have led to dozens of deaths, the firing of most Cabinet members and calls for President William Ruto's resignation. Protests began with Kenyans' rejecting a proposed bill to impose more taxes as millions in the country barely get by amid rising prices.
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The pro-government movement has emerged to counter the youth-led anti-government one. In Nairobi on Tuesday, the pro-government group took to the streets ahead of the latest anti-government demonstration.
One protester, Charles Onyango, questioned why police were not confronting the pro-government demonstrators yet again dispersed those calling for change.
“Police are just standing by and letting these (suspected) hired goons to disrupt our protests and cause chaos,” Onyango said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the pro-government movement.
Kenya's main airport was meant to be the site of the latest protest, and anti-government demonstrators lit bonfires in a suburb along the highway that leads to it. Airport officials asked travelers to arrive early, and flights continued.
Police hurled tear-gas canisters at hundreds of protesters who blocked another road that leads to the airport, and the military was deployed to the Pipeline area east of the capital.
Protests also were reported in Kenya's second largest city, the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, as well as the city of Kisumu on Lake Victoria and Migori.
Kenya’s anti-government protests are in their fifth week. Under pressure, President William Ruto declined to sign the bill imposing new taxes and dismissed almost all Cabinet ministers, but protesters continue to call for his resignation.
At least 50 people have died and 413 others have been injured in the protests since June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The political opposition is demanding that families of those killed be compensated and that charges against those arrested during protests be dropped.
Police have stopped saying how many arrests they make in the protests. Rights groups, opposition figures and family members for weeks have expressed concern about alleged abductions by officers.
Police last week banned protests in Nairobi, citing the movement's lack of clear leadership to coordinate with authorities to ensure safety and security. But the high court issued an order suspending the ban on protests. Kenya’s constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest.
Still, the acting police head, Douglas Kanja, on Tuesday asserted that Kenya’s main airport was a “protected area” and “out of bounds to unauthorized persons.”
Police in Kenya — hundreds of them newly deployed in Haiti to lead a United Nations-based multinational force to curb deadly gang violence — have long been accused by activists and civil society groups of violence toward demonstrators.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who earlier called for talks to calm the unrest, denied allegations that he had been bribed to join Ruto in forming a broad-based government and expressed his support to protesters.
Some protesters on Tuesday vowed to keep at it.
“(Everything) that is happening in our day will continue happening,” Julius Kamau Kimani said.