Kenya paralysed by deadly protests, strikes due to fuel cost

"At least four people were killed and more than 30 injured during protests that erupted across Kenya on Monday, as a crippling public transport strike fueled anger over a sharp rise in fuel prices linked to the Iran war and disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz. Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said in a televised briefing a number of people were also injured. "We lost four Kenyans in today's violence, which also saw more than 30 people injured," he said."

"Last week, Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority raised retail fuel prices by 23.5%, doubling down on last month's 24.2% hike. Kenya is one of many African countries which depend on fuel imports from the Gulf, suspended amid the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has mostly shuttered the critical waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil passed in peacetime, since US-Israeli attacks on it triggered the war on February 28."

"On Sunday, the Transport Sector Alliance announced that vehicles affiliated with its member associations would stop operating from midnight to protest the latest price increase. Commuters were stranded across the capital, Nairobi, as striking transport operators and protesters blocked roads, forcing people to work from home. Police fired tear gas in some areas as protesters lit tires to block key roads. Schools closed and some events were canceled following calls for strikes and protests."

""They do not want to listen to the citizens when we say the prices are too high," Alex Koome Mwenda, 22, told the French AFP news agency. The protests spread to other major towns and cities, including Mombasa, Kenya's main port"

Kenya raised retail fuel prices by 23.5% after a prior 24.2% increase, prompting protests and a public transport strike. Transport operators affiliated with the Transport Sector Alliance stopped running from midnight, stranding commuters across Nairobi and forcing many to work from home. Protesters blocked roads, including by lighting tires, and police used tear gas in some areas. At least four people were killed and more than 30 were injured during violence linked to the protests. Schools closed and some events were canceled following calls for strikes and demonstrations. The fuel price rise was linked to the Iran war, disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, and Kenya’s dependence on Gulf fuel imports.

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