(26 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya – 26 June 2024
1. Various of heavy police presence outside the parliament buildings as workers sweep up debris
2. Various of firefighters working near burned building
3. Various of people trying to salvage what remains of their businesses
4. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Gideon Hamisi, businessman:
"In all businesses right now, no one is happy. So my plea to the president is to listen to us and understand that this financial bill they want to pass is not as important as people’s lives. Many young people lost their lives yesterday. I am a young man, and I feel deeply pained by what transpired. My plea is for the president to listen to the cries of the Kenyan people. This Kenya belongs to all of us, not him alone."
5. Various of newspapers, headlines reading (English) "Deaths, mayhem", "Pandemonium" and "Deadly tax protests leave Kenya facing IMF fallout"
6. Various of looted Safaricom shop, people looking
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Johnson Ojala, businessman and Nairobi resident:
"It is so clear that the people have rejected the bill, and the people are the government. You cannot say you are the government when there are no people. We are the government – we have rejected it. So it’s good if it’s taken back for redrawing."
8. Various exteriors of Supreme Court cordoned off with police tape
STORYLINE:
Kenyans woke up to the acrid smell of tear gas still lingering in the capital on Wednesday, a day after protesters stormed parliament amid violent demonstrations over a controversial tax plan during which at least six people have been killed.
As the day began, there were no reports of violence.
Police and soldiers patrolled the streets as city workers began cleaning up debris.
Parliament, the city hall and the supreme court were cordoned off with tape reading “Crime Scene Do Not Enter.”
The military was deployed overnight to support police as President William Ruto called the events treasonous and vowed to quash the unrest “at whatever cost.”
Kenya has been rocked by massive protests for over a week in opposition to a proposed finance bill that would raise taxes as frustrations over the cost of living are simmering.
Many young people who helped vote Ruto into power with cheers for his promises of economic relief have taken to the streets to object to the pain of reforms.
Thousands of protesters stormed Kenya’s parliament Tuesday, burning parts of the building while legislators fled.
Police responded with gunfire and several protesters were killed.
The city mortuary told The Associated Press that it received six bodies from police on Tuesday.
Authorities said police fired over 700 blanks to disperse protesters in the suburb of Githurai, east of the capital Nairobi.
More than 100 people were injured in Tuesday’s protests, according to civil society groups.
It is still unclear how many people were arrested.
AP video shot by Joe Mwihia
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