Ugandan police used rubber bullets, live rounds and tear gas to break up a protest by supporters of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine after he was arrested yesterday following the filing of his nomination papers, aides and witnesses said.
At least 15 people were injured and 49 arrested in the clash at the home compound of Wine, 38, also a singer and musician who has parlayed his relative youth and upbringing in a slum into a popular following against 75-year-old President Yoweri Museveni.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, aims to end Museveni’s 34-year-old grip on power that has made him Africa’s third longest-ruling president.
Wine was detained near a venue where he was certified as a candidate by the electoral body and then driven in a police van to his compound, which was full of what aides said were “thousands” of supporters who had gathered after his arrest.
Police moved in, firing tear gas and rubber bullets as well as some live rounds over the heads of the crowd, and at least 15 people were injured, aides to Wine told Reuters by phone.
David Lewis Rubongoya, the secretary-general of Wine’s National Unity Party, said: “Police, supported by the army, fired teargas to disperse supporters of Bobi Wine who had come to his home to welcome him from the nomination exercise.
“The army and police have taken over the residence and closed the road leading to the place.”
In a statement, police said Wine was taken into custody because he had plans for “holding illegal processions” as he left the nomination venue.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said in a joint statement issued by Uganda’s security forces: “(Wine) was forcefully removed from his vehicle, and a fracas ensued in the process of transferring him to the police vehicle.
“He was eventually safely delivered to his home.”
He said Wine and his supporters were involved in “violent running battles” with security forces, with three officers and four civilians injured, and two police vehicles damaged.
Some 49 arrests were made, Enanga said.
Wine’s youthful energy, music and humble origins have struck a chord among the young in Uganda’s 42mn population, unnerving the ruling party and leading to repeated arrests of Wine and his loyalists for allegedly threatening public order.
“Mr Museveni, since you have failed to control your greed and lust for power, our generation is determined to save you from yourself and stop your ... dictatorship,” Wine said in a speech before his arrest.
Don Wanyama, Museveni’s spokesman, did not respond yesterday to a Reuters call and texts requesting comment.
Wine has said that being “born hustling and born to hustling parents, raised in the ghettos”, meant he could understand the struggles of ordinary, impoverished Ugandans, and he has repeatedly urged Museveni to retire.
Museveni was cleared to run in the elections on Monday.
Elections are scheduled for February next year.
Another opposition presidential candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, arrived shoeless and dishevelled to file his candidacy after being intercepted en route to party headquarters and bundled into a police van.
“It is disgusting, disappointing, but this was expected by a regime that is shameless, desperate to cling to power,” Amuriat told AFP after being marched by police across the university grounds in his socks, his suit askew.
He said the headquarters of his party, the Forum for Democratic Change, was surrounded by police and military ahead of his nomination.
Police spokesman Enanga said Amuriat had also planned a rally in defiance of police orders and was “safely transported” to submit his nomination papers to election officials.