Kenyan police fired tear gas and engaged in running confrontations with opposition protesters in key towns throughout the nation on Friday to protest a slew of tax hikes.
Protests were organised by opposition leader Raila Odinga to resist tax increases imposed at a time when many people are already struggling with high costs for essential necessities such as maize flour.
Although Kenya’s High Court ordered that the tax increases be halted, the government still increased the price of gasoline, sparking a new legal dispute.
According to a coalition of human rights organisations, including Article 19, police detained 17 protesters in Nairobi’s capital, while eleven others were detained in different places.
The High Court suspended implementation of the finance law last week but the government raised the retail prices of petrol, forcing the opposition senator who lodged the case to seek the jailing of the head of the energy sector regulator for contempt.
The court will rule on the contempt application on Monday and give further directions on the main lawsuit the same day.
