Ugandan security troops arrested 40 supporters of opposition leader Bobi Wine in a crackdown intended to thwart a “million-man march” of protesters.
Over a dozen journalists reported being assaulted by security forces while they were attempting to cover the protest and Wine’s arrest.
Ugandan police officials said the 40 suspects would “face charges in court as operations continue” for allegedly “inciting violence.”
Wine called the police liars and said the total number of his supporters detained by police ran into the hundreds nationwide. He demanded the immediate release of the illegally detained political prisoners:
Wine himself was forced into a car upon arriving at Entebbe International Airport and driven to his home, where he said he was placed under house arrest. “My house is surrounded. Soldiers and police are all over,” he told reporters.
“As soon as I landed, goons grabbed me and dragged me, twisted my hands and bundled me into a waiting private car. They drove me to the old airport, where they pulled me out and then put me in a military car with many soldiers and police officers,” he said.
Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) Party said he was unlawfully detained after arriving at the airport, while police insisted he was never under detention at all but was merely given a police escort home so he could relax with “family and friends.”
Wine was the challenger against Marxist Ugandan strongman President Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 election. Museveni, 79, has been in power since 1986. He ostensibly won re-election with 58 percent of the vote to Wine’s 34 percent.
Wine claims the election was rigged with ballot box tampering and violence against his supporters, including rape and torture. NUP representatives have a habit of referring to Wine as “our president” to signal their belief that he was the true winner of the 2021 election.
Over a dozen journalists said they were roughed up by troopers from Uganda’s Security Forces Command (SFC) when they tried to cover Wine’s arrival at Entebbe, and some of their equipment was confiscated. A police spokesman claimed the reporters were interfering with airport operations, but the journalists said they were harassed and beaten seemingly at random.
“The SFC guys and military guys just came and started pulling our reporters. They pulled me out of the car, actually through the window, even without asking me anything. I was beaten. My camera was destroyed, my phone. I have wounds on my back, the arm. I got bruises everywhere,” local videographer Jengo Eriah told Voice of America News (VOA).
“The charges remain extremely unclear, and their gadgets have not been returned to them,” said Robert Sempala of the Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda.
“They are saying they are going to first have to look into the content that was on those gadgets, which is another violation. Various reports [are] saying that the military, hooded and disguised in masks, was at the helm of this operation,” Sempala told VOA.
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