Kenyan police said they have arrested more than 270 people masquerading as protesters who are suspected of going on a criminal rampage during anti-government rallies on Tuesday.

Widespread looting and property damage was reported during the youth-led demonstrations in various cities across the country, which some protesters said had been infiltrated by "goons".

"Security forces across the country singled out suspects found engaging in criminal activities in the guise of protesting, and took them to custody," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, late Tuesday.

It said a total of 204 suspects were arrested in the capital Nairobi and another 68 in various other areas of the country.

"The DCI has further deployed scrupulous investigators across the affected regions to pursue suspects captured on CCTV cameras and mobile phone recordings violently robbing, stealing and destroying properties and businesses of innocent citizens," the statement added.

Tuesday's demonstrations began in an atmosphere of calm but later degenerated into violence, with police firing tear gas at rock-throwing crowds in Nairobi and scenes of looting and property damage in the capital and other cities.