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Flames of fury engulf Mozambique: SA closes borders

Flames of fury engulf Mozambique: SA closes borders

IN the scorched heart of Mozambique, a tempest of unrest rages, threatening to consume the very fabric of this fragile nation. The embers of discontent, fanned by the disputed results of last month's election, have erupted into a blazing inferno of protest and violence, casting a dark shadow over the country's future. The once-peaceful streets of Mozambique have become a battleground, where the clash of ideologies has given rise to a desperate struggle for power. As opposition supporters take to the streets, denouncing what they claim is a fraudulent election victory by the ruling Frelimo party, the government has responded…
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Kenyan police on high alert following threats of new protests

Kenyan police on high alert following threats of new protests

KENYAN police used tear gas to disperse protesters who were burning tyres in renewed anti-government demonstrations.  The protests, which Reuters describes as "the biggest crisis of Ruto's two years in power," were initially sparked by proposed tax increases but have continued even after President William Ruto made concessions, including withdrawing $2.7 billion in tax hikes and reshuffling his cabinet. Reuters reporters observed approximately 200 protesters in Kitengela, a town near Nairobi, chanting slogans against Ruto and demanding his resignation. The news agency also reported similar scenes in Nairobi's city centre and the coastal city of Mombasa. The article notes that…
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Police fire tear gas in Kenya finance bill protests

Police fire tear gas in Kenya finance bill protests

A climbdown by Kenya's president over plans to raise taxes brought no end to nationwide protests on Thursday, with at least two people reported killed in clashes near the capital Nairobi and others shot by police elsewhere. A day after President William Ruto abandoned a tax hike bill, demonstrators in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and other cities called for him to step down, although crowds were smaller than earlier in the week. Police fired teargas at dozens of protesters in Nairobi and blocked off roads to the presidential palace. In the town of Homa Bay in western Kenya, police said officers had…
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Kenyan police and protests: researchers on a violent, corrupt security force that’s beyond reform

Kenyan police and protests: researchers on a violent, corrupt security force that’s beyond reform

KENYA’S police are being criticised for their violent response to protests over the past week against government proposals to raise US$2.7 billion in additional taxes. Hundreds of thousands of people, across 35 of Kenya’s 37 counties, poured out onto the streets in opposition to the tax hikes. The police have reacted with force, using live bullets and tear gas. At least five people are known to have been killed and hundreds have been injured. The reaction by the police force didn’t come as a surprise. Kenya has a long history of policing with excessive force, often resulting in unnecessary deaths.…
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Police fire tear gas, water cannon at anti-tax protesters in Nairobi

Police fire tear gas, water cannon at anti-tax protesters in Nairobi

RIOT police in Nairobi fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of demonstrators as coordinated marches took place across Kenya against government plans to raise $2.7 billion in additional taxes. Late into the protest on Thursday, officers fired tear gas to disperse protesters who were marching on a road near State House, President William Ruto's office and official residence. Earlier, police had sprayed people with purple-coloured water from water cannon, as they sought to clear protesters in Nairobi's central business district and blocked their path to parliament. The demonstration had appeared peaceful. The Kenya Red Cross said on…
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Police fire tear gas to disperse Benin wage protest

Police fire tear gas to disperse Benin wage protest

POLICE in Benin fired tear gas to break up a protest over the cost of living called by trade unions and they arrested several senior union figures, witnesses and union officials said. Armed police blocked access to the labour council in the commercial capital Cotonou, surrounding the area where the demonstration was meant to take place and turning away journalists. Some protesters nonetheless gathered nearby, carrying signs and wearing union T-shirts. Police used tear gas to disperse them. Moudassirou Bachabi, who heads the General Confederation of Workers of Benin (CGTB), and Anselme Amoussou, head of union CSA-Benin, were arrested alongside…
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Police fire tear gas on Indian farmers marching to capital, government offers talks

Police fire tear gas on Indian farmers marching to capital, government offers talks

INDIAN farmers demanding higher prices for their produce paused their protest after the government made a new offer to resume talks, hours after police fired tear gas and used water cannons to scatter thousands staging a march to Delhi. The farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been demanding higher prices backed by law for their crops. They form an influential bloc of voters Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot afford to anger ahead of general elections due by May. Farmers' leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters they would pause their protest for two days and deliberate their next…
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Tax-hike protesters clash with Kenyan police, two shot dead

Tax-hike protesters clash with Kenyan police, two shot dead

STONE-THROWING demonstrators clashed with police and two were shot dead, officers on the scene said, in anti-tax protests in cities and towns around Kenya called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. Police fired tear gas to disperse protests in the capital Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and several other towns, according to Reuters reporters and footage aired on Kenyan television stations. Some of the most intense clashes took place on the expressway linking Nairobi to its international airport, where protesters lit fires and pulled down the flower boxes that usually line the road to use as barricades. Police officers patrolling…
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Kenyan police fire tear gas at protesters marching against finance bill

Kenyan police fire tear gas at protesters marching against finance bill

KENYAN police fired tear gas at hundreds of people protesting near parliament against a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel and housing. President William Ruto, who won elections in August on a platform of helping the poor, is under pressure to raise revenues in East Africa's economic powerhouse in the face of rising government debt repayments. But his proposals have drawn sharp criticism from civil servants and political opponents, who say that the cost of living is already too high. Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters who marched to parliament to present a petition…
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Senegal unrest flares again over opposition leader

Senegal unrest flares again over opposition leader

DOZENS of protesters clashed with security forces in Senegal's capital, Dakar, after lawmakers and supporters were blocked from visiting the home of a prominent opposition politician on trial for rape and libel. Police fired tear gas on demonstrators who built makeshift barricades along one of Dakar's main highways and in one neighbourhood set cars and a ministerial building on fire. It is the latest round in months of unrest triggered by President Macky Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term in office and by court cases involving a leading rival, Ousmane Sonko, who denies wrongdoing and says…
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