Kenya: Witnesses describe police killing protesters

(Nairobi) – Kenyan security forces fired directly at a protest crowd, including fleeing protesters, on June 25, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today.

Protests began in towns and cities across Kenya and online after the 2024 Finance Bill was introduced in Parliament on June 18. The protests were mainly organized by Kenyans Between 18 and 35 years old, They took to social media to voice their discontent. They expressed anger at provisions in the bill that would raise taxes on goods and services many rely on, such as bread, as well as mobile remittances, in order to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) revenue targets. Government spending on social programs has already Steady decline Reports of wanton waste in public spending abound.

“The unjustifiable direct firing into crowds of people, including when protesters were trying to flee, is completely unacceptable in Kenya and under international law,” he said. Ozino NanwayaDeputy Director of the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. “Kenyan authorities need to make clear to their military that they are expected to protect peaceful protesters and that impunity for police violence will no longer be tolerated.”

Kenyan authorities should ensure that security agencies deployed to protests protect the right to peaceful protest and refrain from using excessive and lethal force, Human Rights Watch said. Authorities should take immediate steps to investigate the killing of more than two dozen people protesting against the government’s proposed tax measures. On May 26, President Announced that he would not sign He did not want to re-draft the finance bill, but instead sent it back to parliament with a proposal to remove all the clauses. He also said he would introduce austerity measures across the executive branch.

On June 25, protesters gathered in towns and cities across the country, including outside Parliament in Nairobi. Witnesses and journalists told Human Rights Watch that police opened fire on protesters inside and outside Parliament as it met in the afternoon. While it is impossible to confirm the exact number of people killed in Nairobi and other towns, Human Rights Watch found that at least 30 people were killed that day based on eyewitness testimony, public information, hospital and morgue records in Nairobi, and eyewitness testimony in Nakuru, Eldoret, and Meru. Kenya Police Reform Task Force Reported As of the evening of June 25, 23 people had been shot dead by police, most of them in the previous week.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 people, including three relatives of the victims, a morgue attendant, two parliamentary staff who were in Parliament on the afternoon of June 25, two photojournalists covering the protests, and three human rights activists involved in searching for missing persons across the country.

Reporters and parliamentary staff said that at around 2 p.m., the paramilitary “General Service Force” deployed around the parliament directly opened fire on unarmed people who tried to force their way into the National Assembly. Eight protesters were reportedly The death toll reached 100, but the actual death toll is likely higher. At around 4 p.m., protesters broke through security walls and fences and stormed into Parliament, forcing lawmakers to take refuge elsewhere in the building.

media It is reported that the General Service Force and the Army Around 5 p.m., police moved in to rescue lawmakers. Five witnesses said some security force members indiscriminately shot at fleeing protesters, killing an unknown number of people. Around 5 p.m., KTN TV footage showed police beating and shooting fleeing protesters inside the parliament building.

Two journalists and a parliamentary staffer said they saw armed men shooting at protesters on the roof of the parliament building and atop the 28-story Kenyatta International Conference Center.

At least three people interviewed, including a family member of a young man who was killed, said that at around 5:30 pm, several officers from Kahawa Barracks arrived in the Gitulai area of ​​Nairobi to find a section of the Nairobi-Tika highway blocked with stones by protesters and a police riot vehicle had been burned.

A human rights activist in the area said that when the officers arrived, “eight officers came out and shot at people. They killed several people, including those who were not participating in the protest. It is not clear how many people were killed in total, but around 8 p.m., when the officers stopped shooting at people, we confirmed that at least 22 people were killed.” The activist said the joint military and police shooting resumed at 10 p.m. and continued until 11 p.m. Tell the media The Kenya Bar Association called on Independent Investigation Participate in the events of Githurai.

On June 26, Human Rights Watch visited the Kenyatta National Hospital morgue and saw six bodies of protesters, which hospital records showed were brought in by officers from Nairobi Central Police Station and Kamukuni Police Station. Researchers found another six bodies at the Nairobi City Mortuary, brought in by officers from Kamukuni Police Station, six at Mamarushi Hospital, and eight at Kenyatta University Referral Hospital. Human Rights Watch research shows that police killed at least three people in Eldoret Township, one in Nakuru, and one in Meru.

The researchers also visited several hospital wards, where hospital officials said at least 165 people injured in the June 25 protests were taken to hospitals. A doctor at Kenyatta National Hospital said two people died on arrival, 24 required immediate surgery and 72 were treated for their injuries and released. Most of the patients admitted had blunt force injuries, including those from passive impact rounds and gunshot wounds.

Several people told Human Rights Watch that their relatives were missing. Human Rights Watch said Kenyan authorities should provide prompt information on the whereabouts and well-being of those missing.

On June 24, pro-government protesters put up banners in support of the 2024 fiscal bill in downtown Nairobi. Two human rights activists who participated in the anti-fiscal bill protests said that on the morning of June 25, pro-government protesters briefly clashed with anti-fiscal bill protesters in downtown Nairobi and the town of Eldoret. Kenyan media reported that on June 27, pro-government protesters in Eldoret chanted war songs and took to the streets again, this time with batons and bows and arrows, but later Weapons returned On the evening of June 27, they arrived at the Eldoret County Government Office.

On the evening of June 25, President William Ruto, in an interview with the media, called the protesters “traitors” and “organized criminals” who hijacked the protests and created chaos. He also Announce Deploy the military to support the police.

Kenyan human rights group criticizes president Deployment of troops Without parliamentary approval, as required by Kenyan law, the Kenya Bar Association challenged the constitutionality and sequencing of the deployment in court. On June 27, the High Court ruled that the deployment was legal and necessary and gave the Cabinet Secretary two days to regulate the deployment by publishing details of the deployment area, duration and nature in the official government gazette, as required by Kenyan law. On June 27, the army was deployed to several locations as protests broke out again in Nairobi. Meanwhile, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission said it would Start an investigation Security forces used excessive force and indiscriminate killings.

Human Rights Watch said Kenya’s international partners should continue to actively monitor the situation and any prosecutions that may arise from the protests, and further urged Kenyan authorities to promptly but credibly and transparently investigate abuses by security forces. International human rights bodies, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur, should monitor the crisis and consider requesting visits to Kenya to investigate any alleged abuses. Human Rights Watch said the authorities should allow the Special Rapporteur and other independent human rights observers to conduct such investigations.

this Finance Bill 2024 This comes against the backdrop of an IMF program approved in 2021. The program includes several revenue-raising measures that will increase the cost of many rights-critical goods and services, especially for low- and middle-income Kenyans. Income and womenThe IMF program introduced sweeping reforms, some of which have Increased cost of living crisis. The Act Expected to raise an additional $2.3 billion next fiscal year, in part to meet a request from the International Monetary Fund for increased revenue.

Human Rights Watch said the IMF should review the terms of its program with Kenya and revise program and social spending floors to ensure the program does not exacerbate poverty or inequality or prevent the government from meeting its human rights obligations.

“The widespread outrage should serve as a wake-up call to the Kenyan government and the IMF that they cannot sacrifice human rights in the name of economic recovery,” Namwaya said. “Economic sustainability can only be achieved by building a new social contract that increases incomes equitably, manages them responsibly, and funds services and programs that protect everyone’s rights.”