Earlier in the day, the leader of the protesters, Hanifa Adan, announced a new protest rally, promising that it would be peaceful. The Citizen Digital news outlet reported that police squads had been deployed in Nairobi on Thursday, with all routes to the parliament building cordoned off.
The tear gas was used to disperse protesters that were gathering in Nairobi’s Central Business District, the Kenyan newspaper Star reported.
Last week, protests broke out in Nairobi against tax hikes. Kenyan authorities were initially planning to introduce a 16% value-added tax on the purchase of bread, transportation of sugar, use of mobile and financial services, and transactions with foreign currency, among other things, but later removed these provisions from the bill. Due to the protests, President William Ruto refused to sign the bill and sent it back to parliament for reconsideration.