Kenya - July 2023

The death toll in Kenya’s ongoing cost-of-living protests rose sharply in July, as planned tax increases prompted renewed demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and the police. No official tally of the fatalities was released by the government, with police reportedly instructed not to report them but, as of 21 July, civil society organisations had documented 27 fatal police shootings between 7 and 19 July. The police’s use of live ammunition and teargas to disperse stone-throwing protesters has given rise to allegations that use of force was excessive. Rights groups also alleged that the police beat protesters and arbitrarily arrested and detained them. Such allegations are not new in Kenya, where police brutality is widespread (130 police killings were reported in 2022), however there is growing civil society concern about the tactics employed by the police, including the use of armed plain clothes officers at protests. The cost-of-living protests began in March 2023.  

Sources: The East African, Kenya Human Rights Commission, United Nations, Amnesty International, Missing Voices,  Associated Press News, Daily Nation