Lubega trapped in Bugembe riot
Nov 17, 2010
SAMUEL Lubega yesterday became the first presidential candidate to face a life-threatening challenge after he was trapped in a violent riot on the Jinja-Malaba highway.
By Frank Mugabi
SAMUEL Lubega yesterday became the first presidential candidate to face a life-threatening challenge after he was trapped in a violent riot on the Jinja-Malaba highway.
Lubega, who was in a convoy of about five vehicles, was going to campaign in Namayingo district when he bumped into a fierce protest at Bugembe town council, about 6km from Jinja town.
Angry residents, protesting a two-week power outage that resulted from Umeme’s withdrawal of a transformer that served the area, barricaded the road with burning tyres, stones and tree stumps, disrupting traffic for over four hours.
Lubega reached the scene at the peak of the confusion as the Anti-riot Police were firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters towards the unrelenting crowd that kept throwing stones at them.
His official Police escorts abandoned their pickup truck and surrounded Lubega’s vehicle as local policemen cleared the road.
It was a tense ten minutes before Lubega finally made it through the riots.
The Jinja district Police commander, Jonathan Musinguzi, said Lubega passed through the riots unscathed.
SAMUEL Lubega yesterday became the first presidential candidate to face a life-threatening challenge after he was trapped in a violent riot on the Jinja-Malaba highway.
Lubega, who was in a convoy of about five vehicles, was going to campaign in Namayingo district when he bumped into a fierce protest at Bugembe town council, about 6km from Jinja town.
Angry residents, protesting a two-week power outage that resulted from Umeme’s withdrawal of a transformer that served the area, barricaded the road with burning tyres, stones and tree stumps, disrupting traffic for over four hours.
Lubega reached the scene at the peak of the confusion as the Anti-riot Police were firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters towards the unrelenting crowd that kept throwing stones at them.
His official Police escorts abandoned their pickup truck and surrounded Lubega’s vehicle as local policemen cleared the road.
It was a tense ten minutes before Lubega finally made it through the riots.
The Jinja district Police commander, Jonathan Musinguzi, said Lubega passed through the riots unscathed.