NAIROBI, 12 Jul: One person was killed as some Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living went back into the streets Wednesday in the latest of a series of protests.
\nSome protesters in the capital, Nairobi, burned tires and dismantled part of an entrance to a recently built expressway.
\nIn the town of Emali, on the highway between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, one protester was killed and a police car was set on fire, according to a local police official, Joseph Ole Naipeyan.
\nOpposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost last year\u2019s election to President William Ruto, has repeatedly called on Kenyans to protest as the country struggles with debt and rising prices.
\nOdinga told journalists on Wednesday that such protests will continue, and he accused police of blocking access to the site where he had planned to make a speech. He also accused police of using excessive force against protesters.
\n\u201cAll our engagements are peaceful until the police show up,\u201d Odinga said.
\nNew taxes have added to frustration in East Africa\u2019s economic hub, with inflation at around 8%. Taxes on petroleum products, including gasoline, have doubled from 8% to 16%, a move which is expected to have a ripple effect.
\nOdinga called on Ruto to repeal the act imposing the new tax measures. \u201cPeople are tired of going to bed hungry, facing the new day hungry and returning to bed hungry,\u201d he said.
\nMost Kenyans either get on with their day or stay home during such demonstrations.
\nPolice have been criticized by human rights watchdogs for their response to such protests and for their assertion that any demonstration needs advance notification \u201cin the interest of national security.\u201d Kenya\u2019s constitution includes the right to peacefully demonstrate.
\n\u201cAll lawful means will be used to disperse such demonstrations,\u201d the national police inspector general, Japhet Koome, said in a letter Tuesday calling Wednesday\u2019s protests \u201cillegal.\u201d (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, 12 Jul: One person was killed as some Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living went back into the streets Wednesday in the latest of a series of protests. Some protesters in the capital, Nairobi, burned tires and dismantled part of an entrance to a recently built expressway. In the town of Emali, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-220264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}