An official from the main doctors’ association in Kenya has said that the country’s protest death toll has risen to 13.
It was gathered that anti-tax hike rallies on Tuesday turned violent and police opened fire at demonstrators who ransacked the country’s parliament.
The protest, which was said to have left parts of parliament gutted and injured scores of people on Tuesday, have shocked Kenyans and prompted President William Ruto’s government to deploy the military.
It was further learned that the mainly youth-led rallies began mostly peacefully last week, with thousands of demonstrators marching in the capital Nairobi and across the country against the tax increases.
However, tensions flared sharply on Tuesday afternoon, as police officers fired live rounds on crowds that later ransacked the parliament complex.
The Defence Minister, Aden Bare Duale, hours later announced that the government had deployed the army to support the police in tackling “the security emergency” in the country.
Simon Kigondu, president of the Kenya Medical Association said, “So far, we have at least 13 people killed, but this is not the final number,” adding that he had never seen “such level of violence against unarmed people.”