Pigs released in protest at Kenyan parliament that is tear gassed by police

A Kenyan demonstrator holding a piglet moves towards the gate of parliament in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Police fired tear-gas, water cannons and swung their batons at protesters gathered outside Kenya’s parliament building to pile pressure on the country’s legislators to drop demands for a salary increment. About 250 people carrying placards and banners marched through the Nairobi’s city center and staged a sit in at the entrance legislators use to enter parliament. There the protesters released about two dozen piglets and a pig to symbolize “the greed of the country’s legislators.” (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim) (The Associated Press)

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Kenyan demonstrators, some chained to each other, gather near the gate of parliament in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Police fired tear-gas, water cannons and swung their batons at protesters gathered outside Kenya’s parliament building to pile pressure on the country’s legislators to drop demands for a salary increment. About 250 people carrying placards and banners marched through the Nairobi’s city center and staged a sit in at the entrance legislators use to enter parliament. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim) (The Associated Press)

A Kenyan demonstrator is stopped by riot police near the gate of parliament in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, as demonstrators marched through Nairobi city to occupy the parliament building. Police fired tear-gas, water cannons and swung their batons at protesters gathered outside Kenya’s parliament building to pile pressure on the country’s legislators to drop demands for a salary increment. About 250 people carrying placards and banners marched through the Nairobi’s city center and staged a sit in at the entrance legislators use to enter parliament. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim) (The Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan demonstrators released nearly three dozen piglets outside parliament to protest the country's legislator's demands for a salary raise.

Police and parliament officials chased the piggies after using tear gas, truncheons and water cannons to disperse the nearly 250 protesters who marched through downtown Nairobi Tuesday and sat down at the entrance to parliament.

The protesters said they released the piglets to symbolize "the greed of the country's legislators."

Boniface Mwangi, one of the protest organizers, told an Associated Press reporter from a police cell that he had been arrested with 15 others.

Not all the pigs were caught by police and some were eating flower beds in front of parliament.

Kenyan legislators want to reverse a government commission ruling that shrank their salaries from around $126,000 to $78,500.