Protesters returned to the streets of Kenya on Thursday, some of them demanding the resignation of President William Ruto, despite his announcement a day earlier that he was abandoning a tax bill that drew large-scale demonstrations in which nearly two dozen people were killed.
On Thursday, a heavy police and military presence was visible across the capital, with officers in cars and trucks and on horseback guarding the roads leading to Parliament, the president’s official residence and several downtown streets.
Much of the central business district remained closed as police officers chased and tear-gassed smaller crowds waving white roses.
Some activists and opposition political leaders had urged demonstrators not to march toward the president’s official residence in Nairobi on Thursday for fear of more bloodshed.
But others said the killings, shootings and abductions of those opposing the tax increases in recent days — which activists said were some of the bloodiest days in Kenya’s recent history — would not deter them from pushing Mr. Ruto to resign.
Persons:
William Ruto, Ruto
Locations:
Kenya, Nairobi