Kenya Police and Crowds Fight in the Third Round of Price Increase Protests

On Thursday, during the third round of protests the president’s opponents had planned, protesters stoned police in the nation’s capital and arsonists burned down the party headquarters of the president in a western town.

In protest of rising living expenses and purported election fraud, thousands participated in marches organised by opposition leader Raila Odinga. The administration has argued that the election was fair, defended its economic performance, and called for an end to the demonstrations.

A fall into ethnically motivated violence was also a feature of Monday’s protests and the initial demonstrations the Monday before, prompting appeals for calm from civic leaders.

On Thursday, Rigathi Gachagua, the deputy president, asked demonstrators to return home.

Gachagua stated, “We are informing our senior Raila Odinga that the only way to enter administration is via vote.”

Earlier in the day, Odinga and other opposition leaders rode through the Pipeline district of Nairobi in a convoy while hundreds of supporters marched behind them, carrying sticks, pots, and empty flour packages.

A 31-year-old graduate who is unemployed said he was protesting the election, unemployment, and skyrocketing food costs.

“We want Raila to tell us to demonstrate every day,” they said. We won’t back down. Odinga has called for rallies every Monday and Thursday, and he said, “Even [at] night, we are quite ready.

The cost of two kilos of maize flour, a basic ingredient, climbed from $1.02 (134.79 shillings) in April 2022 to $1.36 (179.98 shillings) in February.

Food and transportation costs were a major factor in Kenya’s inflation, which increased to 9.2% year-over-year in February from 9.0% the previous month.

President William Ruto has been accused of poor management by the demonstrators, while Odinga’s supporters have accused him of leveraging his ire over the growing costs, a worldwide phenomenon, to demand political concessions and perhaps even a position in the administration.

Much of the Pipeline protest was peaceful, according to a Reuters reporter who was there, but some people hurled stones at a police station, prompting cops to use tear gas.

The national police spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment, and the official from the interior ministry directed Reuters to police when asked about Odinga’s claim that his car was struck by live bullets.

Kenyan media aired images of demonstrators using homemade catapults to throw stones at riot police in the Mathare area of Nairobi.

According to Cleophas Malala, the party’s secretary general, the headquarters of the United Democratic Alliance party in the western town of Siaya were set on fire.

Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for Malala, charged him with “ethnic profiling,” claiming he had thought the assailants were Odinga supporters because they belonged to his ethnic group. Malala blamed Odinga’s followers.

The police chief for Siaya County, Michael Nyaga, declined to comment on the event.

Odinga, who has run for president five times, contested Ruto’s victory in the election in August, but the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the outcome.

Reuters