Protesters in Kenya have vowed \u201ca total shutdown\u201d as they seize control of Nairobi\u2019s main international airport on Tuesday as deadly anti-government demonstrations intensify, now entering their sixth week. <\/p>\n
At least 50 people have been killed during the protests and more than 400 injured, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. <\/p>\n
Widely shared social media posters encourage protesters to close all roads leading to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and cause a \u201ctotal shutdown.\u201d <\/p>\n
Authorities said in a statement on Monday night that they increased security at the airport and warned against trespassing on protected areas, saying it was an offense punishable by law. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge all individuals participating in demonstrations to respect these legal provisions from attempting to enter or interfere with protected areas,\u201d acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja said. <\/p>\n
The youth-led protests began last month after national outrage about a controversial finance bill that would have dramatically raised taxes on basic commodities. <\/p>\n
After President William Ruto was forced to pull the bill, demonstrators shifted their attention to protesting against his legitimacy, corruption in his government and police brutality. <\/p>\n
Ruto on Friday renominated six ministers after he fired the entire cabinet last month due to public pressure, reigniting public anger over their renomination. <\/p>\n
The cabinet nominees still need parliamentary approval, but they\u2019re likely to be confirmed since Ruto\u2019s party holds the required majority. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, the president expressed frustration with the protests, declaring that \u201cenough is enough\u201d after failed attempts at dialogue. <\/p>\n
\u201cGoing forward, we will protect the nation. We will protect life, property, we will stop the looters, killers, mayhem and anarchy because Kenya is a democracy, and we want a peaceful, stable nation,\u201d Ruto said. <\/p>\n
The protesters have largely organized on TikTok, X and other social media platforms by mostly Gen-Z citizens who have refused to identify a leader, drawing anger from Ruto. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep saying they\u2019re faceless, formless. I\u2019ve told them I\u2019ve given a chance to everybody to say whatever they want. It cannot continue like this,\u201d Ruto added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Protesters in Kenya have vowed \u201ca total shutdown\u201d as they seize control of Nairobi\u2019s main international airport…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}