PROTESTERS have returned to the streets of Nairobi and elsewhere in Kenya as calls grow for “tyrant” President William Ruto to step down.

Demonstrations against a finance Bill that would raise the cost of living have escalated in the last few weeks, even after Mr Ruto said in the wake of last week’s storming of parliament that he would not sign the legislation.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in Nairobi on Tuesday as many businesses remained closed for fear of looting. The main highway to Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, was closed as protesters lit bonfires.

In Mombasa, five vehicles were burnt by protesters outside a hotel whose owner is alleged to have opened fire at looters.

While there are concerns that the president might change his mind and sign the finance Bill before next week’s deadline, some protesters are also calling on him to resign and accusing him of bad governance.

In a post on the X social media platform, the Communist Party of Kenya applauded the protests, adding that they were “the correct path to overthrow a tyrant!”

However, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki claimed that “criminals” were taking advantage of planned protests to “commit arson” and “terrorise” Kenyans. 

He warned that they were planning more violence tomorrow and on Sunday, insisting that the government was determined to stop them at “whatever cost.”

The two weeks of protests have left 39 people dead, according to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission. 

Kenya’s main opposition party called on Mr Ruto’s government on Tuesday to take responsibility for the fatalities.

The president has offered a dialogue with representatives of the protesters and promised cuts to his office’s budget for travel and hospitality in line with some demonstrators’ demands. 

But he has failed to convince many people across the country that he is capable of tackling Kenya’s economic crisis and calls for him to go continue to mount.