NAIROBI: Protests in Kenyan cities against tax hikes and high living costs largely subsided on Thursday morning as police maintained a heavy presence, though the opposition hoped to rally its supporters anew in the afternoon.
The Wednesday-to-Friday demonstrations are the third round of protests that the opposition has called this month. Protests this year have cost the economy more than $20 million per day, according to a private sector lobby group.
Several people were reported shot, some possibly fatally, in clashes with police on Wednesday, and at least 300 people were arrested, including several senior opposition leaders.
Apart from minor skirmishes between about 500 protesters and police on Thursday in Kibera, a vast shanty town in the southwest of the capital Nairobi, most residents were going about their daily business as normal, according to Reuters reporters.
Broadcaster NTV showed a large police deployment in anti-riot gear at Nairobi's Jacaranda grounds, scene of opposition rallies in the past.
Many shops in the city's central business district reopened and traffic picked up on major roads. Schools also reopened in Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and Kisumu, the country's third-largest city, after being shut on Wednesday.
A TV station controlled by veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga's Azimio La Umoja party urged supporters in a Twitter post to assemble in the capital Nairobi on Thursday afternoon.
"Bring your pots and pans as we ready to sound off for the whole world," read part of the tweet.
Odinga lost last August's election to President William Ruto, his fifth election defeat in a row, and has repeatedly called for acts of civil disobedience against a government he accuses of raising the cost of living and consolidating power.
Ruto has pledged to champion the interests of the poor, but the price of basic commodities has ballooned under his administration.
His government argues higher taxes enacted last month were necessary to help with growing debt repayments and to fund job-creation initiatives. A Kenyan court froze the tax hikes late last month, pending a ruling by senior judges.
At least 15 people were killed in the two previous rounds of protests earlier this month. Civic leaders have warned about sporadic incidents of apparent ethnic-based attacks in a country with a history of deadly political violence.
Odinga's spokesperson, Dennis Onyango, who was among those arrested on Wednesday, was released on Thursday, parliament minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said. — AFP
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