STORY: :: A heavy police presence in Nairobi as Kenya braces for fresh protests
:: June 27, 2024
:: John Ngugi, Motorbike taxi driver
"You see from the day he took over, Ruto told the people that he will do this and that and he didn't. You see now, he is president but he also must listen to us and to our cries especially us the youth. This protest is not by the youth only but also our parents, old women."
It was not clear how far protesters would be mollified by President William Ruto's Wednesday (June 26) decision to withdraw the finance bill a day after clashes killed at least 23 people and saw parliament being stormed briefly.
Ruto is grappling with the most serious crisis of his two-year-old presidency as the youth-led protest movement has grown rapidly from online condemnations of the tax hikes into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul.
Although some protest supporters said they would not demonstrate on Thursday as the finance bill had been scrapped, others pledged to press on, saying only Ruto's resignation would satisfy them.
