Twenty-two people were killed in Tuesday's protests in Kenya, a state-funded rights organisation said, vowing an investigation into what it described as "the largest number of deaths (in) a single day protest."
"We have recorded 22 deaths... we are going to launch an inquiry," said Roseline Odede, chairwoman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, adding that 19 people had died in the capital Nairobi, where police opened fire at demonstrators who stormed parliament.
Some other 30 people were being treated for bullet wounds sustained during the protests on Tuesday, the Kenya Medical Association said on Wednesday.
The mainly youth-led rallies began mostly peacefully last week, with thousands of people marching across the country against the tax increases, but tensions sharply escalated Tuesday, as police opened fire on demonstrators who stormed parliament.
Military deployed
The unprecedented scenes left parts of parliament ablaze and gutted and scores of people wounded, shocking Kenyans and prompting President William Ruto's government to deploy the military.
On Tuesday afternoon, parliament passed the contentious bill containing the tax hikes, which must be signed by Ruto to become law.
But demonstrators vowed to hit the streets again Thursday as they called for the bill to be scrapped.
"Tomorrow we march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people," protest organiser Hanifa Adan said on X.
"You cannot kill all of us."
Demonstrators shared "Tupatane Thursday" ("we meet Thursday" in Swahili), alongside the hashtag #Re jectfinancebill2024 on social media.
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