Ugandan opposition leader injured at protest

Kizza Besigye suffers hand injury after police use tear gas and fire shots into air during protest over cost of living.





The Ugandan Red Cross confirmed that Besigye had been injured [EPA]


Kizza Besigye, Ugandan opposition leader and president Yoweri Museveni's closest rival in February elections, has been taken to hospital after apparently being injured while taking part in a protest, police said.

"Besigye fell down, we don't know what happened to him but the next thing we saw was that a Red Cross vehicle came nearby and he jumped into it," Vincent Sekate, a police spokesman, said on Thursday.

The Ugandan Red Cross confirmed that Besigye had been injured.

Michael Richard Nataka, general secretary of the Uganda Red Cross, told the AFP news agency "He got injured in the process of the demonstration. It was a hand injury."

Police used tear gas and fired in the air to prevent Besigye from holding the march to protest the rising cost of living and what the opposition says is bad governance on the part of Museveni.

Besigye had planned for the second time this week to get Ugandans to join a walk-to-work protest march.

When the opposition leader left his home in Kasangati, a suburb of Kampala, he was met by anti-riot police.

"We stopped him from walking to work because we received information that he had asked people to join him on the way to create chaos in town," Ssekate told AFP.

"There are laws governing processions, and Besigye should follow these guidelines. Short of that we cannot allow him to proceed," he added.

However, Besigye said that he was within his rights to walk to work.

"Do I have to ask for permission from the police to walk to my place of work?" he asked.

By mid-morning, Besigye, surrounded by his supporters, was still being watched by a large contingent of police.

On Monday, he was arrested and charged with "inciting violence" for attempting to organise a similar march. He will appear in court again on May 11.

Besigye's arrest was widely criticised by rights groups.

He chalked up his third consecutive loss to Museveni in a February presidential election, with the opposition saying that poll was marred by fraud.