Kenyan President William Ruto said he’s withdrawing a contentious tax bill, bowing to public pressure after deadly protests against the plan to raise $2.3 billion in new levies led to the deaths of at least 23 people.

“I concede,” Ruto said in a televised address on Wednesday. “I run a government but I also lead people. And the people have spoken.”

On Tuesday, lawmakers in his ruling coalition pushed through the so-called Finance Bill, albeit with some concessions.

Protesters broke through police barricades and stormed the National Assembly just after lawmakers approved the legislation. Ruto in a defiant speech hours later termed the action treasonous and said he’d deploy the military to quell further violence. His reversal comes after his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta and civil society leaders asked him to talk to protesters.

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