Protesters returned to streets of the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday, clashing with police in the central business district despite President William Ruto's withdrawal of the controversial finance bill, which included tax hikes.
Though the number of participants on Thursday was lower compared to Tuesday, the protest remained tense. Protesters threatened to march on the State House, the official residence of President William Ruto, just four kilometers away.
Dozens of protesters were arrested, while others were reported to have sustained gunshot wounds during the One Million Man March.
While other parts of the city remained calm, a heavy military presence patrolled the streets, in contrast to the usual atmosphere. Soldiers were keeping protesters at bay and guarding the shops from potential looters.
Following Tuesday's widespread looting, a sense of caution gripped some business owners, leading them to take extra precautions on the day.
"We have to save our shops. Tuesday we were looted. Our two shops were broken into on Tuesday, so we have to take care of ourselves. We cannot rely on other people. You see all these people here today, we are taking care of our shops," said Simdi Ravier, a business owner.
"When I called the police, they said just call 112. I called so many times, nobody responded there, so I just called my brother, and I just called the neighbors. They will come to help us. The other guys took fridge and cookers. They just throw the stones and leave them there. And the neighbors helped, they take and put it back to my shop. They looted a lot of shops there," said Gurpreet Singh, another business owner.
On Wednesday, a day after rights groups said 23 people died in the nationwide protests, protesters in Nairobi stormed Kenya's parliament.
As businesses count their losses, the youth or Gen Z who are behind the protests have vowed to push on a new frontier of challenges in Ruto's two-year-old presidency.
Protesters clash with police in Kenya's finance bill protests
The current government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has made great efforts to ensure security and stable development of the SAR and will continue to work hard to improve Hong Kong's competitiveness in various sectors, said HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.
In an interview with China Global Television Network before the SAR celebrates the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, Lee reviewed the work the current SAR government has done since it took office.
The current KHSAR government has completed two major political tasks to ensure security, stability and effective governance, said the chief executive.
"On the political side, we have done two important things in the past two years. The first is we have fulfilled our constitutional duty for local legislation as stipulated under Article 23 of HKSAR Basic Law. On March 19, 2024, the Safeguarding National Security Bill under Article 23 was unanimously passed by the Legislative Council. This was a glorious deed for which the SAR had waited 26 years, eight months and 19 days," Lee said.
"I am very grateful to the Legislative Council and all sectors of society for supporting the SAR government in completing this historic task. Another thing that we have done is that we've completed the work of the District Council election in December 2023, which is the implementation of Article 97 of the Basic Law and the implementation of district advisory bodies in Hong Kong. So, these two political tasks have been completed, which I think are particularly important for our security, stability and effective governance," he said.
Talking about the focus of the SAR government's work, Lee said they will try to make Hong Kong more competitive in talent, sci-tech and capital.
"The first thing we do is to increase the competitiveness of Hong Kong, when it comes to talent, science and technology, as well as capital. First, on the talent front, when I took office, we made a target of luring 35,000 talented people every year. And now we have attracted about 120,000 people through various talent intake programs, exceeding our target," Lee said.
"Second, on science and technology, we have focused vigorously on building the center of science and technology innovation in Hong Kong through the plan of 'industry-university-research +'. That's because our strongest strength is science and technology research and there are developments in the upstream. The downstream is to integrate into the overall development of our country," he said.
"The third is capital. Hong Kong, as a financial center, plays a great role in financing, listing, moving capital in and out. Foreign funds can invest in Hong Kong and invest in the mainland, and mainland funds can also go global through Hong Kong. Hong Kong has more advantages than what I have listed," said the chief executive.
Hong Kong chief executive reviews work since taking office, charts plan for future development
