By Elias Biryabarema and Aaron Ross, Reuters —
Ugandan police detained several people in the capital Kampala on Thursday during a second day of anti-corruption protests that are demanding the resignation of the parliament speaker, footage broadcast by local media showed.
Drawing inspiration from weeks of youth-led protests in neighbouring Kenya that forced the president there to withdraw proposed tax hikes, young Ugandans began demonstrating this week against alleged graft by elected leaders.
The police quickly shut down a planned march to parliament on Tuesday. They arrested at least 73 young protesters, according to Chapter Four Uganda, an organisation providing legal services to those detained.
On Thursday, more demonstrators took to the streets, according to video posted on X by the Daily Monitor newspaper. The footage showed police in riot gear forcing several young adults into the back of a truck as they shouted protest slogans.
Footage broadcast by NTV Uganda showed about a dozen people marching with signs that said, “The Corrupt are Messing with a Wrong Generation” and “This is our 1986”, a reference to when President Yoweri Museveni overthrew a repressive government.
Reached for comment, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke referred Reuters to comments on Monday in which he said protests had been banned because they would be hijacked by people looking to loot and vandalise.
Museveni, who over the weekend warned protesters against “playing with fire”, accused them on Thursday of receiving foreign funding.
“Those involved should know that Uganda is not a neo-colony,” he said. “The fight against corruption is in my hands. I just need evidence and action will be taken.”
Ugandan and Kenyan activists have used audio forums on X as the main platform for organising their protests.
In one such forum on Thursday, activists encouraged Ugandans to take to the streets but acknowledged the challenge of mobilising in a country where anti-government demonstrations routinely draw forceful police crackdowns.
“You want it done today? Get out of your house … Be the soldier for this anti-corruption fight,” said one speaker identified only by their X handle.
The protesters’ demands include the resignation of parliament speaker Anita Among, who was sanctioned this year by the United States and Britain for alleged involvement in corruption.
Among has denied all allegations of graft and says she is being targeted by Western governments for her role pushing through harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation last year.
The Ugandan protesters have borrowed slogans from their counterparts in Kenya, where more than 50 people have been killed in six weeks of protests, characterising themselves as “fearless” and “leaderless”.
Nigerian activists are also looking to emulate the protests in Kenya and have called for demonstrations next month in response to a cost of living crisis.
Source: Reuters
Reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kampala and Aaron Ross in Nairobi; Editing by Toby Chopra
Featured image: Protestors chant slogans during a rally against what they say are rampant corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s rulers in Kampala, Uganda July 23, 2024. REUTERS/Michael Muhati
