Uganda opposition desperate for publicity - Govt

By Raymond Baguma                                    

Opposition politicians are intentionally confronting the police to provoke violence in order to seek publicity that they are harassed, state minister for internal affairs James Baba has said.

Baba was responding to Tuesday's incident in which Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Kizza Besigye, his aide Francis Mwijukye and Kampala Woman MP Nabilah Ssempala, were injured when police fired teargas to disperse a rally in Katwe a Kampala suburb.

Besigye and Mwijukye sustained slight leg burns when they were hit by some fragments from an exploded teargas canister. They were treated from Case Clinic along Bombo Road, while Nabilah inhaled teargas and was admitted.

Baba told journalists at his office Thursday, “Some opponents of government are not happy with peaceful and safe protests. They seem intent on grabbing headlines by creating confrontation with police and provoking conflict.”

He added, “They resort to violence then claim that they have been victimized when police respond to their assaults.”

Minister Baba said that the public rally at Katwe grounds was not authorized by the police who did not want supporters to disrupt activities at a nearby market.

According to Baba, a suggestion by the police for the organisers to relocate the rally to another venue was not welcome. At this point, FDC party supporters began pelting the police with stones and four police officers were injured and rushed to hospital.

“In self-defence, and to protect innocent bystanders, the police deployed a small number of canisters of incapacitating gas. Their objective in so doing was to disperse the violent mob.”

Baba denied reports that the police used live rounds of ammunition and rubber bullets. “The only weapon utilized by police was the standard canisters of gas which have been used for many years.”

He also said that no serious injuries were reported during the incident because the police used reasonable force in self-defence when they were attacked by the violent mob, comprising of people who want to overthrow the government.