Kenya Boils As Youths ‘Occupy’ The Country, Protesting Tax Hike Bill

Kenya is boiling as youths occupied vital areas of the country, vehemently protesting tax hike bill.
Reports reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper and hardcopy magazine in Abuja said that several people have already been killed as Kenyan police open fire on the anti-tax bill protesters.
It was gathered that parts of parliament building were set ablaze as protesters storm the complex in the country’s capital, Nairobi.
Police were said to have fired live rounds at protesters trying to storm Kenya’s legislature, where lawmakers voted to pass a contentious finance bill that would hike taxes.
Thousands of people joined the youth-led demonstration in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, yesterday, June 25, to demand that lawmakers vote against the bill amid soaring tensions over a cost-of-living crisis in the country.
But the legislators voted to pass the bill, as some of the Lawmakers escaped from the chamber through perimeter fence, as protesters breached the complex of the Parliament.
Parts of the Parliament building were set ablaze.
It was gathered that police eventually managed to drive the protesters from the building amid clouds of tear gas and the sound of gunfire.
The lawmakers were evacuated through underground tunnels, local media reported.
At least five people were reportedly killed and 31 others were wounded.
The Kenya Medical Association and several other NGOs said in a statement, said that of the wounded, 13 had been shot with live bullets and four with rubber bullets.
“Despite the assurance by the government that the right to assembly would be protected and facilitated, today’s protests have spiraled into violence,” the groups said.
Kenyan President, William Ruto said that the security of Kenyans remained his “utmost priority.”
President Ruto described the deadly protests as “treasonous,” adding that the debate over the tax increases had been “hijacked by dangerous people.”
Source: Al Jazeera.