“I have no blood on my hands,” Kenyan president defends after deadly protests

Kenyan President William Ruto believes he has no “no blood on hands” after the day of anti-government protests on June 25, he said in a television interview on Sunday, June 30.

According to him, the clashes left 19 dead, a toll lower than those of human rights organizations. This is the first official count given by the Kenyan authorities for this day of mobilization. The demonstrators had stormed Parliament, which had just voted on a criticized 2024-25 budget project introducing tax increases. The police then fired live ammunition into the crowd.

The next day, saying he had heard the anger, the president announced the withdrawal of the text. This choice will have “consequences [économiques] very heavy”, warned William Ruto on Sunday. During a two-hour interview on Kenyan television, he also promised “an investigation into how these 19 Kenyans died”.

On Saturday, the NGO Human Rights Watch said it had recorded at least 31 deaths in several cities across the country. The official human rights agency (KNHRC) had previously reported 22 people killed, and a group of local NGOs, including the Kenyan branch of Amnesty International, reported 23 dead. “caused by police gunfire.”

“The police did their best,” William Ruto said, reaffirming that “criminals have infiltrated [parmi les manifestants] And have sown chaos”. “Those who attacked Parliament and judicial institutions are on video surveillance. Many of them are on the run, but we will catch them. (…) Any police killer who went beyond what is provided for by law law will be sanctioned”he added.