"Take the rubber bullets out of the box", shouted a police officer to his colleagues in front of journalists from the France-Presse (AFP) news agency, who then saw the police fire these bullets both into the air and towards the protesters.
According to local media, demonstrations were also held, without any police opposition, in several other cities in the country, namely in the opposition strongholds of Mombasa (east) and Kisumu (west), in Eldoret (west), a large city in the Rift Valley, the home region of the President, William Ruto, Nyeri (southwest) and Nakuru (central).
In Nairobi's central business district, the first groups of protesters, mostly young people waving Kenyan flags, whistles and vuvuzelas and chanting "We are peaceful", were initially kept at bay by tear gas.
The police then used rubber bullets.
A large security force, including water cannons and mounted police, was deployed to this district, the epicenter of previous demonstrations, blocking access to parliament, where the controversial budget bill that triggered the protests is currently being debated.
For this third day of action, organizers called for demonstrations across the country and a general strike.
The movement, dubbed "Occupy Parliament", was launched on social media shortly after the 2024-2025 budget was presented to parliament on 13 June, which included the introduction of new taxes - including a 16% VAT on bread and an annual tax of 2.5% on private vehicles.
After a first demonstration, on June 18, in Nairobi, with a few hundred people, mostly young people from "Generation Z" (born after 1997), the Government announced that it was abandoning most of the planned taxes.
But the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024 ("Reject the draft budget for 2024") crystallized wider discontent among the population, hit by economic difficulties for several years, and on June 20, processions took place in many cities.
The anti-tax demands turned into a challenge to the President's policies, who said on Sunday he was ready to talk to young people.
Although largely peaceful, the first two days of demonstrations were marked by the deaths of two people in Nairobi. Several dozen people were injured by the police, who also made hundreds of arrests.
Amnesty International Kenya, in a statement released on Monday, warned of the risk of escalation which "could lead to more deaths".
The Kenyan Human Rights Commission, an NGO, accused authorities of abducting activists "mainly at night (...) by plainclothes police in unmarked cars."
Kenyan police spokeswoman Resila Onyango did not respond to AFP's questions about these allegations.
The draft budget must be voted on in parliament before the end of the financial year, on June 30. Protesters are asking for the text to be withdrawn in full, denouncing the Government's maneuver that announces the withdrawal of certain tax measures, but plans to compensate them with others, namely a 50% increase in taxes on fuel.
According to the Government, these taxes are necessary to give the highly indebted country a certain margin of maneuver.
Kenya, an East African country with a population of around 52 million inhabitants, is an economic power in the region but is experiencing the drama of inflation.
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