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A teargas canister detonates as protesters run for safety during anti-government protests in Nairobi on July 16, 2024.

A teargas canister detonates as protesters run for safety during anti-government protests in Nairobi on July 16, 2024. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Kenyan police used teargas to disperse protesters in some of the nation’s biggest cities, shuttering shops and offices in their central business districts.

Local media showed demonstrations in at least 10 cities including the capital, Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa, and Kisumu near Lake Victoria in the west. The crowds on Tuesday were smaller than those that amassed last month to demand the government drop planned revenue-raising measures.

President William Ruto scrapped the proposed taxes, which sought to raise as much as 346 billion shillings ($2.7 billion), after protesters stormed parliament on June 25. The number of people killed in the protests that began in mid-June has risen to 50, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agitation has since morphed to a movement that’s demanding a total overhaul of how the nation is governed. While the president has bowed to public pressure by sacking almost his entire cabinet and accepting the resignation of the chief of police, the protests has continued with demands for him to step down.

Ruto announced there would be talks this week with activists, opposition leaders, religious groups and civil society on creating a broad-based political formation. The process has yet to start as many of the protesters have rejected any consultations.

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