Police in Kenya fired tear gas at demonstrators on Tuesday in the capital Nairobi during a march opposing a new finance bill 2023 that critics say will increase taxes.
The proposed legislation is aimed at expanding the tax base to meet the government's ambitious budget of KES 3.6 trillion ($25.89 billion) for the year 2023/2024. But it's been criticised as burdensome to the public and detrimental to the cost of living.
Police fired several volleys of tear gas and arrested 11 people, bundling them into a police truck, to try to disperse the demonstration, AFP journalists at the scene said.
"Down down finance bill," chanted protesters as a group of about 100 marched towards parliament, which resumed on Tuesday after a recess and is expected to debate the legislation this week.
The demonstrations - which the organisers said had been notified to the police - have been dubbed "sita sita" (Swahili for six six) as they were held on the sixth day of the sixth month.
Marchers waved placards reading "Will more taxation lead to low cost of living" and "Poverty is man-made".
Amnesty Kenya called for the unconditional release of the 11 arrested, saying the right to protest, "express oneself, and participate in public discourse is sacred under our Constitution and international law".
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi denounced the arrests, writing on Twitter that "sending police to arrest peaceful protesters for exercising their righ t to be heard is dictatorial behaviour".
The intervention also drew rare public criticism from a senior civil servant.
"No peaceful protest, particularly one focused on an ongoing national economic conversation, should be disrupted nor should any arrests be carried out," said Korir Sing'oei, principal secretary at the foreign ministry.
President William Ruto is seeking to fill the government's depleted coffers and repair a heavily-indebted economy inherited from his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, who splurged on major infrastructure projects.
His government has drawn up a 3.6 trillion shilling ($26.2-billion) budget for 2023/24 with the proposed new taxes expected to generate 289 billion shillings.
Critics accuse Ruto of rowing back on promises made during the August 2022 election campaign, when he declared himself the champion of impoverished Kenyans and pledged to improve their economic fortunes.
