At least 16 people have been killed and 400 injured in Kenya as a nationwide demonstration to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests turned chaotic, with police clashing with protesters in different parts of the country.

Amnesty Kenya’s executive director, Irũngũ Houghton, said the death toll had been verified by the government-funded Kenya national commission on human rights. “Most were killed by police,” he said.

A joint statement from groups supporting the protests said 83 people were seriously injured and at least eight people were being treated for gunshot wounds.

“We pray for our nation, dialogue and a way forward from the political impasse facing Kenya,” said the statement from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the Police Reforms Working Group and the Kenya Medical Association.

Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets early on Wednesday to pay tribute to more than 60 people who died last year when police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm parliament while MPs inside passed legislation to raise taxes.

“We face an unfortunate paradox as a country where more lives are being lost as the people seek justice for the lives already lost,” the LSK’s president, Faith Odhiambo, said on X. “Our hearts break for all the victims of the continued trend of police brutality and excesses.”

In Nairobi, police barricaded major roads a few kilometres from the central business district and turned away buses and minibuses farther away from the city centre. They also blocked off access to key buildings, including the parliament and the official residence of the president, William Ruto, with razor wire.

Guardian