KAMPALA: Police clashed with opposition supporters after briefly detaining a leading presidential candidate twice, as he tried to hold rallies mere days before the general election. The conflicts hurt several people and killed at least one, as the cops fired bullets and tear gas to calm down the protesters hurling rocks. Main opposition leader Kizza Besigye, head of the Forum for Democratic Change party, was held after marching with thousands of supporters to a rally in Kampala. He was soon released afterwards, said a party spokesperson.
“Police can confirm one person died during the confusion today,” said Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango, without indulging in further details. Leaders from the opposition said that three people were shot dead, but there was not independent confirmation. FDC spokesman Semujju Nganda said “several” supporters were injured during the brush up with the police. “We protest in the strongest terms police brutality towards our supporters and targeting our candidate,” he said. But minister for the presidency, Frank Tumwebaze said it was “madness” that Besigye even tried to hold a rally in the centre of the capital, accusing him of “seeking publicity... after sensing defeat ahead”. He supported the police saying they had a duty to ensure calm.
The violence broke out three days before the presidential and parliamentary elections are due. Coleen Nantongo, FDC parliamentary candidate for Kampala Central said the unrest cast a dark cloud over the upcoming polls. “Uganda is doomed”, she said. “We cannot have fair election when this is what the police do. Whenever there are elections they tear-gas us and arrest us, so how can we be expected to have a fair competition?” FDC supported James Magara said the police action raised doubts that the election would be free and fair. “There is no democracy in Uganda, and now the whole world will see it. Museveni does not want to lose so he sends the police after us, but this time we will not accept it. We will not let him continue like this.”
