Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | Muharram 20, 1447 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

16 dead, businesses destroyed after Kenya protests

Residents look through a window to assess the damage in a commercial building that was vandalized and torched during deadly protests marking one year since the storming of parliament in anti-tax demonstrations in Nairobi. - AFP
Residents look through a window to assess the damage in a commercial building that was vandalized and torched during deadly protests marking one year since the storming of parliament in anti-tax demonstrations in Nairobi. - AFP
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NAIROBI: At least 16 people died in protests across Kenya on Wednesday, Amnesty International said 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 dozens were killed by security forces.


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," Kipchumba Murkomen, interior cabinet secretary, 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.


In Nairobi's business district, the epicentre of the unrest, journalists found entire shopping centres and thousands of businesses destroyed, many still smouldering. — AFP


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