Police bar Besigye from rally, round up opposition leaders
A police officer talks to Dr Besigye before his vehicle was loaded onto on a flat-bed truck and driven to Rushere Police Post at the Kiruhura Road junction. PHOTO |NMG
What you need to know:
The law enforcers intercepted the convoy of Dr Besigye, who was driving upcountry from Kampala, at about 10.30am on the Masaka-Mbarara highway, some 20 kilometres to Mbarara Town.
Mbarara/Kampala, Sunday. Police yesterday placed Rukungiri Town, the home of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party presidential flag bearer, Dr Kizza Besigye, under a security lockdown and blocked a planned rally the Opposition politician was to address.
The law enforcers intercepted the convoy of Dr Besigye, who was driving upcountry from Kampala, at about 10.30am on the Masaka-Mbarara highway, some 20 kilometres to Mbarara Town.
They used spike strips to block the highway shortly after Leader of Opposition in Parliament Wafula Oguttu’s police-led convoy, which Dr Besigye’s driver closely followed, passed.
After hours of standoff and fruitless haggling, the police loaded Dr Besigye’s car, with him inside, on a flat-bed truck and drove him to Rushere Police Post at the Kiruhura Road junction.
This capped a dramatic day of confrontations between police and Opposition supporters in the south-western Rukungiri Town, and arrest of half a dozen party officials, among them MPs Geofrey Ekanya (Tororo County), Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kyadondo East), Amuriat Oboi (Kumi County) and Paul Mwiru (Jinja Municipality East).
The FDC party chairman, Mr Wasswa Birigwa and the deputy secretary general (In-charge of Administration) Harold Kaija, were also arrested. The six were variously detained at Mbarara Central Police Station and Sanga Police Post.
In Rukungiri, heavily armed anti-riot police in body armour marshaled to patrol every town street, removing fresh banana stems planted as a sign of welcome to the guests and pulled down banners announcing their arrival.
They also sealed off Rukungiri Stadium, the venue for the aborted rally.
How it happened
Dr Besigye’s day seemed to have started well. He and other party officials gathered at their offices on Katonga Road, in Kampala, and set off for Rukungiri at around 6am.(NMG)
