French feminists march against far right with days before vote

By AFP
June 23, 2024

Feminist demonstrators marched against the far right in Paris - Copyright AFP Eyad BABA

Thousands of people turned out in France on Sunday for feminist demonstrations against the far right, which is expected to come out on top in June 30 snap elections, as parties sought to shore up support with days to go.

With the far-right National Rally (RN) polling at around 35 percent, “we have to remind people that they’re the ones who talked about ‘comfort abortions’, who are always attacking family planning services,” said Morgane Legras, a nuclear engineer and feminist activist taking part in the thousands-strong march in Paris.

Protesters wearing violet marched from the Place de la Republique square in central Paris to Place de la Nation in the east, bearing signs with messages such as “Push back the far right, not our rights”.

Other rallies took place in around 50 other cities such as Toulouse.

France’s two-round election system makes it difficult to predict which party could ultimately claim a majority in the lower house of parliament, handing them the prime minister’s post which is second in power to President Emmanuel Macron.

Since Macron dissolved parliament after a European Parliament election battering, his centrists are badly lagging the RN as well as a reforged left-wing alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) in surveys of voting intentions.

The RN has garnered unprecedented levels of support after a decades-long “de-demonisation” push to distance its image from its roots, including a co-founder who was a member of the Nazi Waffen-SS paramilitary.

But the core of its message remains hostility to immigration, Islam and the European Union.

Senior RN lawmaker Sebastien Chenu gestured towards Muslim and Jewish voters Sunday by vowing not to ban the ritual slaughter of livestock to produce halal or kosher meat.

“Everyone will be able to keep eating kosher meat if they want,” Chenu told Jewish broadcaster Radio J.

He added that a historic far-right policy of barring the kippa in public spaces — in the footsteps of an existing law forbidding the full-body burka worn by some Muslim women — was not top of the RN’s agenda, saying its priority was to fight “the Islamist threat”.

– ‘Do better ‘-

In Macron’s camp, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged that the European Parliament result — where they scored just 14 percent — was “a message to us that we have to do better with our methods, with our governance” of the country.

If his party defies the odds to come top in the legislative polls, he vowed “change”, including a turn to “seeking out coalitions with the French public, with civil society” in an interview with broadcaster RTL.

Macron’s alliance would open up to “all who want to come, from the conservative right to the social-democratic left”, Macron’s former prime minister Edouard Philippe told broadcaster France 3.

Attal also hammered the centrists’ mantra about the threats from “extremes” on the left and right, saying both promised a “tax bludgeoning… a shredder for the middle classes”.

The RN especially is “not ready to govern… it’s a party of opposition, not a party of government”, Attal said.

In a sign of the disquiet abroad over Macron’s snap poll gamble, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that he was “concerned about the elections in France”, though “it’s up to the French people to decide”.

– ‘Shut up’ –

The left-wing NFP alliance continued to show strains Sunday, after parties hastily re-knitted ties sundered over differing responses to Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the ongoing retaliation by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Divisions are particularly stark over whether their candidate for prime minister should be Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of France Unbowed (LFI) — the largest party in the grouping, some of whose members have been accused of anti-Semitism.

Melenchon should “shut up”, former Socialist president Francois Hollande said Sunday, as “people reject him more strongly” than the RN’s leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.

“Do we want the left to win, or do we want to be stoking conflict?” he said.

Melenchon said on Saturday that he aimed “to govern the country”.

“I will never give up the honour of being a target” for attacks, Melenchon told a rally in the southern city of Montpellier on Sunday.

burs/tgb/

COUNTER GENTRIFICATION
Barcelona aims to become Airbnb-free zone by 2029


AFP
June 21, 2024

Tourists crowd Las Ramblas alley in Barcelona - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SCOTT OLSON

Barcelona, one of Europe’s most visited cities, said Friday it aims to ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2029 to ease the housing shortage in Spain’s second largest city.

The licences for the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals which are available on platforms such as Airbnb and Homeaway will not be renewed when they expire in November 2028, Barcelona’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, told a news conference.

“The city cannot allow such a large number of flats to be used for tourist activity at a time of difficulty of access to housing and when the negative effects of tourist overcrowding are obvious”, he added.

This means that “from 2029”, if there are no setbacks, “tourist flats as we conceive of them today will disappear from the city of Barcelona”.

Cities like Berlin, Paris and Barcelona say home-sharing websites for tourists deprive locals of apartments for long-term rent and push up prices for homes remaining on the market.

Collboni said the boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona had helped push up rents by 68 percent in the city, and the cost of buying a house by 38 percent.

“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s biggest problem,” he said.

His predecessor, former housing activist Ada Colau, suspended the issuing of new licences for tourist apartments and banned the opening of new hotels in the city’s most popular areas as part of efforts to cub over-tourism.

But that has not prevented the number of visitors to the city, which is known for its Belle Epoque architecture, museums and beaches, from continuing to increase, especially after pandemic travel restrictions were lifted.

Several local associations have called for a demonstration on July 6 with the slogan: “”Enough! Let’s put a stop to tourism!”.

The rally will come on the heels of other similar demonstrations held in recent months in other Spanish tourism hotspots such as the Canary Islands and Palma de Mallorca.

SAY NO TO GENDER APARTHEID

No Afghan ‘reintegration’ without progress on rights: UN


AFP
June 21, 2024

Afghan women walk along a road in Arghandab district of Kandahar province on May 27, 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Sanaullah SEIAM

Restrictions on women’s rights continue to prevent Afghanistan’s “reintegration” into the international community, a senior UN official said Friday, noting the Taliban’s participation in upcoming talks in Doha is not legitimization of the isolated government.

Since their 2021 return to power, Taliban authorities have not been formally recognized by any nation and apply a rigorous interpretation of Islam, leading to a suppression of women’s freedoms that the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid.”

Restrictions on women and girls, particularly in education, “deprive the country of vital human capital” and lead to a brain drain that undermines the impoverished country’s future, Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN mission in the country, UNAMA, told the Security Council.

“By being deeply unpopular (the restrictions) undermine the de facto authorities’ claims to legitimacy,” she said.

“And they continue to block diplomatic solutions that would lead to Afghanistan’s reintegration into the international community.”

Last year marked the start of a process in Doha to consider strengthening the world community’s engagement with Afghanistan.

The first Doha talks included foreign special envoys to Afghanistan under the aegis of the United Nations, and in the presence of the country’s civil society, including women.

The Taliban had been excluded from the opening talks and refused to take part in the second round if other representatives from the country were involved.

The third round of talks is set for June 30 and July 1 in Doha, and the Taliban has given assurances it will attend.

“For this process to truly begin, it is essential that the de facto authorities participate at Doha,” Otunbayeva said, warning however that high expectations “cannot realistically be met in a single meeting.”

“It cannot be repeated enough that this sort of engagement is not legitimization or normalization,” she stressed.

Responding to criticism over the absence of Afghan civil society representatives, notably women, at the talks that include the Taliban, Otunbayeva said those groups would be present in Doha for a separate meeting on July 2.

“This is what is possible today,” she said.

Afghanistan’s UN ambassador Naseer Ahmad Faiq, who still represents the government that preceded the Taliban’s rise to power, called the absence of civil society and women at the table in Doha “disappointing.”

He also expressed concern the agenda does not include discussions on the political process and human rights in Afghanistan, saying “this will be perceived as a shift away from issues deemed essential to the people of Afghanistan.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/no-afghan-reintegration-without-progress-on-rights-un/article#ixzz8e2f12VsX

Ferrari eyes electric future with solar-powered factory

FIRST THEY ANNOUNCE AN EV NOW THIS

AFP
June 21, 2024


Ferrari's new factory will produce the group's legendary combustion engine cars as well as hybrids and the firm's first EV - Copyright AFP/File Daniel ROLAND

Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari on Friday inaugurated a new solar-powered factory at the group’s historic Maranello site, where its much anticipated wholly electric car should be produced from 2026.

The factory, covering 42,500 square metres and located just north of the current Ferrari campus, will produce the group’s legendary combustion engine cars as well as hybrids and the firm’s first EV.

Dubbed an “e-building”, the rectangular, 25-metre-high factory will be powered in part by more than 3,000 solar panels installed on the roof, producing 1.3 megawatts at their peak.

The aim is for the building to be entirely powered by renewable energy — both internal and external sources — by the end of the year.

High-voltage batteries, electric motors and axles will also be produced there, Ferrari said in a statement.

But the most excitement will be over the production of the new electric Ferrari sports car, the design of which is being kept under tight wraps ahead of its launch in 2025.

“It’s going to look like nothing you’d expect it to look like,” Ferrari chairman John Elkann told a podcast on Wednesday, giving few details but noting that the absence of a normal engine meant more space.

He told the Norges Bank Investment Management podcast that he had already taken it for a test drive.

“It’s incredible… in all ways. If you like to drive, the thrills and the emotions that you will have on this car are just exceptional,” he said.

And what of the traditional Ferrari roar? “It will have a sound,” he said.

Putting the production of all its models under one roof will allow Ferrari “to reorganise and reallocate all production activities more efficiently among its existing facilities in Maranello, increasing its ability to adapt quickly to production needs”, it said.

The group launched its first hybrid model in 2013, and now has four. It aims for full electric and hybrid models to make up 60 percent of production by 2026, and 80 percent by 2030.

Antimicrobials: There’s more to blue cheese than just the stench


By Dr. Tim Sandle
June 21, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

Some members of the genus produce penicillin, a molecule that is used as an antibiotic, which kills or stops the growth of certain kinds of bacteria. Other species are used in cheesemaking. CC Image: CDC, SA 3.0

The distinctive, colourful marbled veins of blue lines cross-cross across the antique white surface of some of the world’s best and most flavoursome cheese. These cheeses are not only renowned for their taste and texture, but also for their pungent smells.

For some, the smell is sufficient to entice the taste buds and to get your stomach acid churning. For others, the smell is revolting, similar to worn socks after a park run.

The highway-like network of blue veins that twist and turn through blue cheeses are the hyphae and mycelium networks of edible Penicillium moulds. These filamentous fungi not only impart flavour to cheese, they also, as those familiar with the work of Alexander Flemming will know, produce compounds with antifungal, antibacterial, and other biological properties in high doses.

How can these compounds be more efficiently captured and processed for the benefit of humanity? Virginia Tech researchers have discovered a new, efficient way to synthesize some of these beneficial blue cheese compounds. This has been achieved deploying methods that avoid the use of harmful chemicals.

Previous problems with attempting the capture of the active ingredients either resulted in extremely low yields or required the use of harmful or dangerous chemicals, which would then have to be removed from the extracted compound.

Bleu de Gex, a creamy, semi-soft blue cheese made in the Jura region of France. Image by Myrabella. CC BY-SA 3.0 & GFDL

As to why the new renewed interest in these fungi, antibacterial resistance has become a growing problem for society, which was caused by the overuse of antimicrobials – from animal rearing to mis-prescribing by medical doctors.

As I’ve written elsewhere:

“This has been compounded not only by microorganisms that are resistant to one antimicrobial or another, but due to the rise of multi-drug resistant microorganisms (the so-termed ‘super bugs’). Prominent examples include MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), VISA (vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus), VRSA (vancomycin-resistant S. aureus), ESBL (Extended spectrum beta-lactamase), VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus) and MRAB (multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii).”

By finding a way to synthesize on a large scale a naturally occurring compound that has not previously been used for antibacterial applications, Virginia Tech researchers were able to evade the existing antibacterial resistances.

The extraction was achieved using an enzyme that can help create a natural product that has a different structure. Enzymes are proteins that help speed up chemical reactions. For their experiment, researchers used an enzyme that produces something called roquefortine L. Parts of its chemical structure are biologically active, which means that it can have beneficial properties such as antimicrobial activities.

This enzyme attaches two hydroxyl groups to a nitrogen atom, which are functional groups found in sugars and alcohols. A hydroxyl group consists of one hydrogen and one oxygen atom. Through a complex chemical process, the hydroxyl groups then develop an entirely different functionality.

Consequently, the compound extracted is of a form that makes it difficult for pathogens to become resistant.

In addition, the production of roquefortine L is central to the production of other molecules called glandiclone, melegranin, and oxaline, which have been shown to have broad antimicrobial properties and promising anticancer effects against human breast and leukaemia cancer cells.

The research has been published in the journal ACS Biochemistry. The paper is titled “Mechanism of Nitrone Formation by a Flavin-Dependent Monooxygenase.”

PUTIN'S CHEF
In Russia, Prigozhin remembered as ‘great man’ year after mutiny

HE HAD BECAME BOGGED DOWN IN BAKHMUT

By AFP
June 21, 2024

Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months after the mutiny - Copyright AFP Olga MALTSEVA

Almost a year since Yevgeny Prigozhin sent his Wagner mercenaries marching towards Moscow in a rebellion against Russia’s military leadership, residents in the capital spoke of respect and admiration for the late renegade.

The mercenary chief died in a mysterious aeroplane crash two months after ordering the short-lived mutiny on June 23-24 2023.

But despite mounting the biggest ever challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s near quarter of a century in power, Prigozhin and his Wagner Group continue to command respect.

“He did a lot for Russia at a difficult moment,” said 60-year-old caretaker Alexander Ulyanov, calling the late mercenary boss a “great man”.

Wagner spearheaded some of the Kremlin’s longest and bloodiest military campaigns in Ukraine, including the fight for the mostly destroyed city of Bakhmut in the east.

“The organisation he created has an iron discipline,” Ulyanov said.

Prigozhin is alive “in our hearts,” he added, comparing him to historical generals like Mikhail Kutuzov, who led Russian soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars.

“If people remember him, he’s alive,” Ulyanov said of Prigozhin.

A former hotdog seller and convicted criminal, Prigozhin became acquainted with Putin in the 1990s, later running catering businesses that served the Kremlin.

Nicknamed “Putin’s chef”, his influence quickly grew as he won government contracts, eventually founding the Wagner Group in 2014 to support Russian paramilitaries in east Ukraine.

After his death, for which the Kremlin categorically denied responsibility, Putin praised Prigozhin as a “talented businessman” who made “serious mistakes”.

– ‘It was so scary’ –

In their quest to unseat Moscow’s military top brass, Prigozhin’s fighters seized Russia’s army headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and shot down military aircraft.

They managed to march roughly halfway to the capital Moscow before Belarus mediated a deal to end the near 24-hour uprising.

“It was so scary,” said Svetlana, a 42-year-old English teacher who was in Rostov at the time. “I didn’t know where it would lead to.”

“He was probably right about something. But… the fact that during the special military operation, when hostilities were going on, he deployed and moved some troops to Rostov in particular — that was wrong,” she said.

But “Teddy Boy”, a 41-year-old American citizen from Los Angeles and member of the “Espanola” battalion fighting for Russia in Ukraine, praised the mercenary boss.

“I’m not 100 percent with him, but if I had met him, I would have shook his hand,” said Teddy Boy, who wore a military uniform and sported tattoos of pro-Russian army symbols.

“He spoke (about) a lot of things that people are thinking, that they’re too scared to say. That’s the problem. And I think that’s why a lot of people supported him.”

Waving Israeli flags, tens of thousands rally against  govt


AFP
June 22, 2024

Anti-government protest organisation Hofshi Israel estimated more than 150,000 people attended the latest anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, calling it the biggest since the Gaza war began - Copyright AFP JACK GUEZ

Tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday, demanding new elections and the return of hostages held in Gaza.

Large protests have occurred in the Israeli city on a weekly basis over Netanyahu’s handling of the nearly nine-month-old war in Gaza started by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Many protesters held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” as people poured into the biggest Israeli city’s main thoroughfare.

“I am here because I am afraid of the future of my grandchild. There will be no future for them if we don’t go out and get rid of the horrible government,” said 66-year-old contractor Shai Erel.

“All of the rats in the Knesset… I wouldn’t let any one of them be a guard of a kindergarten.”

Anti-government protest organisation Hofshi Israel estimated more than 150,000 people attended the rally, calling it the biggest since the Gaza war began.

Some demonstrators lay on the ground covered in red paint in the city’s Democracy Square to protest what they say is the death of the country’s democracy under Netanyahu.

In an address to the crowd, a former head of Israel’s domestic Shin Bet security agency, Yuval Diskin, condemned Netanyahu as Israel’s “worst prime minister”.

Many are frustrated with the country’s right-wing coalition, which includes Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other far-right ultra-nationalists, accusing it of prolonging the war in Gaza and putting the country’s security and hostages at risk.

Yoram, a 50-year-old tour guide who declined to give his last name, said he was attending every weekly protest as Israel needed elections “yesterday” because of Netanyahu.

“I really hope that the government collapses,” he said. “If we go to the original date of elections in 2026, it is not going to be a democratic election.”

Hamas militants seized 251 hostages on October 7, of whom Israel believes 116 remain in Gaza, including 41 who the army says are dead.

A separate Tel Aviv rally on Saturday night drew thousands of relatives and supporters of the hostages.

The attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 37,551 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Gaza war blocks exams and shatters Palestinian pupils’ dreams


By AFP
June 23, 2024

A Palestinian boy stands by a shattered window at a UN school sheltering displaced people which was damaged during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza - Copyright AFP Eyad BABA

Teenagers across the Gaza Strip should have been taking their final exams this month, a last hurdle before university and lifelong dreams, but the war in the Palestinian territory has crushed those hopes.

According to the education ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, 85 percent of educational facilities in the territory are out of service because of the war.

“I was eagerly awaiting the exams, but the war prevented that and destroyed that joy”, said Baraa al-Farra, an 18-year-old student displaced from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

“At first we were waiting in the hope that the war would end and we would catch up,” he said.

But “we don’t know how long it will last or how many years it will deprive us of our educational lives.”

Almost nine months of war in Gaza began with an unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel by the Islamist militant group Hamas. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The Education Cluster, a UN-backed organisation, estimated in a report this month that more than 75 percent of Gaza’s schools would need full reconstruction or major rehabilitation to reopen.

Many have been turned into shelters for Gaza’s displaced and others have been damaged in bombardment.

– ‘Books not bombs’ –

Liliane Nihad, an 18-year-old displaced to Khan Yunis from Gaza City, in the territory’s north, said she and her fellow students had “been waiting 12 years to take these exams and pass and feel happy and enter university… but we have been deprived of all that by this damned war”.

Nihad said she had been hoping to study English and to get a doctorate, “but all of that has evaporated”.

Displaying their anger at the situation, dozens of students and teachers held a protest in Gaza City’s Al-Rimal neighbourhood on Saturday.

“We demand our right to take high school exams” and “We want books, not bombs” they chanted, while empty chairs were laid out to symbolise those students killed in the war.

Mediation has failed to bring an end to the fighting, leaving Gaza’s young people with deep uncertainty about their futures.

Farra said he wanted to get out of the territory to achieve his dreams.

“I hope that the crossing will be opened so that I can travel in order to complete my education and not waste my years because I am young and want to achieve my ambitions.”

For now, he faces the harsh realities of life under siege.

“I wish I could experience the fatigue of staying up late studying now and not the fatigue of queueing for sweet and salty water” in the territory where clean water is scarce, like many other essentials.

– ‘Psychologically exhausted’ –

Pupils in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will take the exams, as will those Gazans who managed to escape to neighbouring Egypt.

Even for these pupils, however, the war has been hugely disruptive.

“We are psychologically exhausted and not well prepared” said Muhammad Osama, a student from Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, after completing his religious studies exam in Cairo.

In the West Bank, violence has further escalated since the start of the Gaza war. According to the Palestinian official news agency Wafa, 20 high school students are among the hundreds of Palestinians killed there.

Wafa reported that 89,000 students from Gaza and the West Bank had been expected to take high school exams this year.

Back in Gaza, however, there will be no exams at all.

The UN, citing the Palestinian ministry of education, said about 39,000 high school students in Gaza are unable to take their tests.

Sulaf Mousa, an 18-year-old from Al-Shati Camp west of Gaza City, hit by a deadly air strike on Saturday, said he had hoped to study medicine and become a doctor.

“Now, we hope we will survive the war and not lose more than we have already lost,” Mousa said.

Dalai Lama arrives in US for knee surgery

CONSIDERED A 'LIVING GOD' BY HIS FOLLOWERS

By AFP
June 23, 2024

The Dalai Lama arrives at a hotel in New York, where he is scheduleld to undergo knee surgery - Copyright AFP Adam GRAY

Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived Sunday in New York to undergo knee surgery, drawing a warm and festive welcome from thousands of followers.

His office in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, his adopted home, announced early this month that the 88-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader would travel to the United States to undergo “treatment” on his knees.

He is scheduled to have surgery on both knees, but no further details have been released.

Followers, many wearing traditional Tibetan outfits, waited outside the Dalai Lama’s Manhattan hotel in crushing heat hoping to catch a glimpse of the man.

“Once we saw him, it felt really powerful. And everyone was, like, emotional because he’s, like, our leader,” said one of them, 18-year-old US born Tenzin Pasang, who has now seen the Dalai Lama three times.

She welcomed the spiritual leader by joining in a performance of a traditional Tibetan dance.

Last week a group of senior US lawmakers including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, sparking heavy criticism from China.

That visit followed passage of a bill by the US Congress that seeks to encourage Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders — frozen since 2010.

Many exiled Tibetans fear Beijing will name a rival successor to the Dalai Lama, bolstering control over a land it poured troops into in 1950.

The Dalai Lama was just 23 when he escaped the Tibetan capital Lhasa in fear for his life after Chinese soldiers eviscerated an uprising against Beijing’s forces, crossing the snowy Himalayas into India.

He stepped down as his people’s political head in 2011, passing the baton of secular power to a government chosen democratically by some 130,000 Tibetans around the world.

Kenya’s Ruto ready for ‘conversation’ with protesters

The protesters have called for a national strike on Tuesday.

By AFP
June 23, 2024

Kenya's President William Ruto says he is ready for talks with protesters who took to the streets to oppose tax hikes - Copyright AFP Eyad BABA
Ammu KANNAMPILLY, Hillary ORINDE

Kenya’s President William Ruto said Sunday that he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young anti-tax protesters, prompting new calls from the movement’s organisers to accept their demand to cancel the levies.

Organised on social media and led largely by Gen-Z Kenyans who have livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests by thousands of people have caught Ruto’s government off guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies.

“I am very proud of our young people… they have stepped forward peaceful and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests.

“We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” Ruto said during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu.

His characterisation of the protests as “peaceful” came after rights campaigners reported two deaths following Thursday’s demonstrations in Nairobi.

A protest organiser, Hanifa Adan, who told AFP that she was in hiding to avoid arrest, said Ruto needed to “respond publicly” to demands that the proposed hikes be cancelled.

“President Ruto can’t claim to support us while his police brutalise peaceful protesters,” she said.

“We’re past the talking stage and won’t be silenced. We demand an end to police violence, respect for our constitutional rights, and the freedom to speak up without fear of arrest or harm.”

Amnesty International Kenya said Sunday that “in the last 72 hours, protest organisers, content creators, medics and protesters have been profiled, abducted and detained in violation of our laws”.

The rights watchdog did not elaborate on the number of detainees, and there was no immediate comment by the police.

– Two dead –

Thursday’s demonstrations were mostly peaceful, but officers fired tear gas and water cannon throughout the day to disperse protesters near parliament.

A Kenya Human Rights Commission official told AFP on Saturday that 21-year-old Evans Kiratu was “hit by a tear gas canister” during the protests and died in hospital.

On Friday, a police watchdog said it was investigating allegations that a 29-year-old man was shot by officers in Nairobi after the demonstrations.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said it had “documented the death… allegedly as a result of police shooting” on Thursday.

Several organisations, including Amnesty International Kenya, said that at least 200 people were injured in the protests in Nairobi, as thousands of people took to the streets across the country.

The protesters have called for a national strike on Tuesday.

– Cash-strapped government –

After smaller demonstrations in Nairobi last Tuesday, the cash-strapped government agreed to roll back several tax increases laid out in a new bill.

But Ruto’s administration still intends to raise some taxes, saying they are necessary for filling the state coffers and cutting reliance on external borrowing.

Kenya has a huge debt mountain whose servicing costs have ballooned because of a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, making interest payments on foreign-currency loans more expensive.

The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans struggling with cost of living surges, with well-paid jobs remaining out of reach for young people.

Ruto said Sunday that the annual budget included measures to tackle youth unemployment and improve access to higher education.

After the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership and financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.56 billion).

The government now targets an increase in fuel prices and export taxes to fill the void left by the changes, a move critics say will make life more expensive in a country already saddled with high inflation.

Kenya has one of the most dynamic economies in East Africa but a third of its 51.5 million people live in poverty.