Thousands of young Kenyans protest tax hikes
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00:00Kenyan protesters gathered around parliament were met with tear gas and water cannon by police on
00:05Thursday as for the second time this week rallies against the government's proposed
00:09finance bill sprung up across the country. For the most part though the demonstrations
00:13were largely peaceful. Thousands of young people frustrated with the rising cost of living
00:19taking to the streets again saying that a recent rollback of some planned tax hikes doesn't go far
00:25enough. At noon a few people gathered in Nairobi's central business district started whistling. It
00:34was a signal it was the beginning of today's demonstration. Shortly after hundreds if not
00:38thousands of people gathered in Nairobi despite the deployment of many police officers and similar
00:45protests were organized in many other cities across Kenya and it's important to notice that
00:50it was the biggest demonstration organized in recent years and that there was no political
00:55party behind these demonstrations it was a regular citizens willing to demonstrate against the new
01:01finance bill a bill that will raise many taxes it's unacceptable for many Kenyan citizens.
01:06This demonstration is sponsored and it's for young people it's not sponsored by any politician
01:12the young people of this nation are tired by the current government. We have to protect the freedoms
01:18we have to say no to heavy taxation we have to say no to ruthless business practices in this country
01:24we have to fix these things that parliament is not doing. We are the young people and we are
01:29doing this for generations to come. Where does he expect us to give him money for taxes? We don't
01:35even know where our taxes go. This government does not give us accountability of our own taxes. So us as a new generation this is what we vow.
01:45We are going to take our identity cards and we are going to vote this government out.
01:49Despite a huge mobilization Kenyan MPs voted in favor of this new finance bill and it's
01:54totally unacceptable for many Kenyans on social networks such as TikTok or Facebook many are
02:00already announcing that they will demonstrate again during the next days. They say that the
02:04Kenyan government already raised the taxes last year that the economy is struggling at the moment
02:09that the cost of life is increasing every month they say that many Kenyans cannot afford to pay
02:15more taxes at the moment.