Nairobi — Police unleashed teargas on activists who had gone to Central Police Station in Nairobi Saturday to secure the release of people arrested in Friday's demonstrations.
The group was led by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, and activist Boniface Mwangi among others.
"Police are cowards, why are they teargassing us yet we have not committed any crime," Mwangi said after a confrontation with the police at the station.
According to the activists, 75 people remain detained at the station since Friday when they were arrested during demonstrations called by Azimio leader Raila Odinga to protest the high cost of living occasioned by the controversial Finance Bill.
"Let us meet in court because we know they have not committed any crime, we will fight all the charges they will bring up," said Lempaa Suyianka, an advocate with Katiba Institute.
Police have indicated they intend to charge the activists arrested Friday with illegal assembly, destruction of property, assault among others.
According to Lempaa, some of them were taken in with injuries sustained when they were brutalized by police.
The protests dubbed "Saba Saba" (Seven Seven) as they are taking place on the seventh day of the seventh month, symbolising the day in 1990 that the opposition rose up to demand the return of multi-party democracy.
Similar protests were held in Kisumu, Kitale, Kisii, Mombasa, Lodwar among other towns.
In Kisumu, two people were shot dead and others sustained injuries during confrontations with police.
Police earlier fired tear gas on opposition leader Odinga's convoy after he addressed a rally in the capital Nairobi that turned violent when he ordered them to march to town from Kamukunji.
At the rally, Odinga announced plans to collect 10 million signatures in a bid to remove his arch-rival from office.
The 78-year-old lost the closely fought August 2022 election to Ruto and has repeatedly denounced the poll as "stolen".
"Kenyans elected leaders to parliament and they have betrayed them," he said to cheers. "Ruto himself who took over power illegally has betrayed Kenyans."
Odinga's Azimio alliance had called for protests over the impact of the new taxes on Kenyans already suffering economic hardship and soaring prices for basic necessities.
Last week, Ruto signed into law a finance bill which is expected to generate more than $2.1 billion for the government's depleted coffers and help repair the heavily indebted economy.
The Finance Act provides for new taxes or increases on a range of basic goods such as fuel and food and mobile money transfers, as well as a controversial levy on all tax-paying Kenyans to fund a housing scheme.
- 'Excessive force' -
Previous protests have sometimes descended into violence and looting, with two people killed in separate clashes between police and demonstrators in March.
Amnesty International's Kenya chapter said Friday that it had "received reports of arbitrary arrests of protesters in Nairobi and Western Kenya and selective excessive force" deployed by police.
A coalition of rights organisations, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission, said their representatives saw "protesters being dragged on the ground while others were being carried to the police vehicles to be transported to police stations".
"We have witnessed the police, yet again, lobbing tear gas to otherwise peaceful protesters, arbitrarily arresting peaceful protesters and brutally handling them," campaigners said, condemning "the excessive and arbitrary use of force by police".
Odinga's Azimio alliance said they would hold another rally in Nairobi on Wednesday, calling for "nationwide demonstrations".
Critics accuse Ruto of rowing back on promises made during his election campaign, when he declared himself the champion of impoverished Kenyans and pledged to improve their economic fortunes.
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But the 56-year-old rags-to-riches businessman has defended the taxes, saying they will help create jobs and reduce public borrowing.
- Court challenge -
The high court in Nairobi last Friday suspended implementation of the legislation after a senator filed a case challenging its constitutional legality.
Despite the ruling, Kenya's energy regulator later that day announced a hike in pump prices to take account of the doubling of VAT to 16 percent as stipulated in the law.
In Nairobi's central business district, where main government buildings are located, police were patrolling on foot, in vehicles and on horseback, while several roads in the capital were closed.
"I hope this demo will make a difference," Alex Dwisa, a 24-year-old manual worker, told AFP.
"The cost of living is too high, I don't have 10k (10,000 Kenyan shillings/$70) to send my two kids to school."
