NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) 鈥 The number of Kenyans who died during Wednesday鈥檚 nationwide protests over police brutality and bad governance has doubled to 16, according to the state-funded human rights commission.
Property was also destroyed in the protests that attracted thousands of frustrated young Kenyans. At least two police stations were razed down by angry protesters.
Kenyans demonstrated Wednesday in 23 of 47 counties across the country calling for an end to police brutality and better governance. Thousands chanted anti-government slogans, and the protests morphed to calls for President William Ruto to resign.
Many protesters were enraged by the recent and the during protests over the blogger鈥檚 death.
The country鈥檚 interior minister Kipchumba Murkomen on Thursday assessed damage to businesses in the capital, Nairobi, where goods were stolen from multiple stores. He said police would follow up with owners whose CCTV cameras captured the looters to ensure swift arrests.
At least two families have identified their deceased kin at the Nairobi mortuary. One relative, Fatma Opango, told local media that her 17-year-old nephew was gunned down in Rongai area in the outskirts of Nairobi.
鈥淚 came across his photo in a group online and I started searching for him at the hospitals hoping he had survived,鈥 she told journalists at the mortuary.
Minister Murkomen on Thursday defended the conduct of police officers during the protests, saying the 鈥済overnment has your back."
鈥淭here is no police officer who committed any excess yesterday, they foiled a coup and they deserve our defense," Murkomen said, adding that police "don't carry guns as toys."
In downtown Nairobi, businesspeople counted their losses after looters raided their shops and set some shops on fire.
In one of the buildings where smoke was still billowing on Thursday morning, a phone seller told journalists that she lost stock worth 800,000 Kenya shillings ($6,000.)
Kenyans mobilized Wednesday's protests on social media platforms to mark the one-year anniversary of huge anti-tax protests, when demonstrators and at least 60 people were killed. Twenty others are still missing.
Parliament and the president鈥檚 office were on Wednesday barricaded with razor wire and protesters were unable to use the roads leading to the two establishments.
