Kenya’s youth-driven protest movement at crossroads as it considers future

Protesters hold a sign bearing the name of someone killed during demonstrations against the government’s finance bill. The movement brought thousands of people onto the streets in recent weeks. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke/The Guardian

Kenya’s youth-driven, leaderless protest movement finds itself at a crossroads this weekend, buoyed up by President William Ruto’s surprise decision on Wednesday to abandon a finance bill containing planned tax rises even as it mourns those killed in deadly violence the day before.

The movement that brought thousands of people out on to the streets in recent weeks, against the backdrop of a cost of a living crisis that has left many young people feeling hopeless, has little precedence in Kenya where protests are traditionally elite-led.