Police use teargas to disperse FDC, NRM supporters
Feb 02, 2006
THE Police yesterday used tear- gas to disperse Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters, who were dancing and chanting party slogans at the Kibuye roundabout, in Kampala, disrupting traffic.
By Geresom Musamali
and Steven Candia
THE Police yesterday used tear- gas to disperse Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters, who were dancing and chanting party slogans at the Kibuye roundabout, in Kampala, disrupting traffic.
The supporters, who kept flashing the party’s V finger sign while singing pro-FDC songs erected an effigy of party president Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye on an island on Muteesa I Road in the morning but the drama with the Police unfolded in the afternoon.
Six police patrol trucks loaded with men in full anti-riot gear were deployed at the scene. Kampala CID chief George Kanonko and Katwe police chief Okello Makmot were part of the operation.
Sources said trouble started when supporters put an effigy of Besigye on an island on the one-way Katwe Road while their National Resistance Movement (NRM) counterparts put President Yoweri Museveni’s on the Kibuye roundabout.
On police advice, the NRM supporters removed their paraphernalia but the FDC supporters only replaced the effigy with a card-board box with Kizza Besigye’s posters glued on all the sides.
For about one-and-a half-hours, the supporters engaged the anti-riot police in a cat-and-mouse game as they fought running battles.
Riled supporters pelted the police with bricks, stones and bottles and they fired teargas.
Many cheered as traffic on the usually busy roads ground to a snail’s pace and other terrified supporters vanished into the slums for safety.
The Police battled the supporters at about 2:00pm after a futile attempt to talk them off the spot.
“They had become a nuisance. They had blocked the road and were inconveniencing motorists and that is unacceptable.
Supporters should stop erecting effigies and we will arrest any found doing so,†Kanonko said.
Policemen raided the slums and arrested five men. Vehicles heading into the city had to slow down and were only let through after showing the V sign, which caused a jam all the way to Kajjansi, police said.
One taxi passenger fainted upon inhaling the teargas, while the windscreen of a car UAF 227F belonging to Godfrey Ssebuwufu, the Uganda Citizens Rescue chief, was smashed.
and Steven Candia
THE Police yesterday used tear- gas to disperse Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters, who were dancing and chanting party slogans at the Kibuye roundabout, in Kampala, disrupting traffic.
The supporters, who kept flashing the party’s V finger sign while singing pro-FDC songs erected an effigy of party president Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye on an island on Muteesa I Road in the morning but the drama with the Police unfolded in the afternoon.
Six police patrol trucks loaded with men in full anti-riot gear were deployed at the scene. Kampala CID chief George Kanonko and Katwe police chief Okello Makmot were part of the operation.
Sources said trouble started when supporters put an effigy of Besigye on an island on the one-way Katwe Road while their National Resistance Movement (NRM) counterparts put President Yoweri Museveni’s on the Kibuye roundabout.
On police advice, the NRM supporters removed their paraphernalia but the FDC supporters only replaced the effigy with a card-board box with Kizza Besigye’s posters glued on all the sides.
For about one-and-a half-hours, the supporters engaged the anti-riot police in a cat-and-mouse game as they fought running battles.
Riled supporters pelted the police with bricks, stones and bottles and they fired teargas.
Many cheered as traffic on the usually busy roads ground to a snail’s pace and other terrified supporters vanished into the slums for safety.
The Police battled the supporters at about 2:00pm after a futile attempt to talk them off the spot.
“They had become a nuisance. They had blocked the road and were inconveniencing motorists and that is unacceptable.
Supporters should stop erecting effigies and we will arrest any found doing so,†Kanonko said.
Policemen raided the slums and arrested five men. Vehicles heading into the city had to slow down and were only let through after showing the V sign, which caused a jam all the way to Kajjansi, police said.
One taxi passenger fainted upon inhaling the teargas, while the windscreen of a car UAF 227F belonging to Godfrey Ssebuwufu, the Uganda Citizens Rescue chief, was smashed.