UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Kenyan police and security forces to exercise restraint and for demonstrators to act peacefully after reports emerged from Nairobi that several protestors were killed when demonstrations at Kenya’s parliament turned chaotic.
Some reports suggest that as many as 50 people were wounded by gunfire. Demonstrators were protesting the East African nation’s legislative approval of a finance tax bill in the context of the rising cost of living in the country.
UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says the SG is deeply concerned and saddened over the violence in addition to reported deaths and injuries to journalists and medical personnel.
“We are also very concerned about reported cases of targeted, arbitrary, detentions. It is very important that the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully be upheld. As we say, anywhere around the world it is up also to authorities to ensure that those rights are respected, and that all incidents of deaths in the hands of security forces be fully investigated, that people be held to account. He urges the police and the authorities and security forces in Kenya to exercise restraint and for the demonstrators to act peacefully.”
