Mr Ruto, who denounced the protesters who raided Parliament as “armed criminals”, is unlikely to sleep easy, however. He announced that the army had been deployed to support the police in order to deter further violence and promised a robust response to those responsible for inflicting “terror on innocent Kenyans”.

His government appears to have misjudged and underestimated the scale of the protests.

Historically, political unrest in Kenya has been driven by the opposition galvanising the poor. This week’s protests, by contrast, have been spearheaded by leaderless middle-class Gen Z social media users who may have wrongly been regarded by politicians as too apathetic to engage in meaningful street action.

With poor Kenyans now following the lead of the middle-class protest leaders, a formidable anti-government coalition is forming and has caught Mr Ruto off guard.

“We didn’t think they had the stomach for the fight,” said a senior politician aligned with Mr Ruto. “We were wrong. Who knows what will happen next?”