NAIROBI: At least 16 people died in protests across Kenya on Wednesday, Amnesty International said Thursday, as businesses and residents were left to clean up the devastation in the capital and beyond.
The marches had been called to mark one year since anti-tax demonstrations that peaked when a huge crowd stormed parliament and security forces killed dozens.
The anniversary marches began peacefully on Wednesday but descended into chaos as young men held running battles with police, lit fires, and ripped up pavements to use as projectiles.
“What unfolded yesterday was not a protest. It was terrorism disguised as dissent,” Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said in a televised speech.
“We condemn the criminal anarchists who, in the name of peaceful demonstrations, unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault, and destruction upon our people,” he added.
