Several people were arrested in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, for defying an official ban and joining sporadic anti-corruption protests.
Some 60 people, including a prominent TV presenter and three young protest leaders, were rushed to court and jailed after marching against the country’s parliament on Tuesday, lawyers said.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for almost forty years, warned before the event that the protesters were “playing with fire”.
The march was organized on social media amid anger over long-running corruption allegations involving several high-ranking government officials.
The protests were partly sparked by demonstrations in neighboring Kenya last month, which forced President William Ruto to abandon planned tax hikes.
The police earlier said that they refused to grant permission for the march and would not allow any demonstration that would threaten the “peace and security” of Uganda.
Riot officers were seen manning roadblocks on Tuesday, while members of the security forces blocked roads and stood guard around Parliament House.
In the images, protesters held placards reading “Stop Corruption” and called parliament a “den of thieves”. Another said: “We are peaceful protesters”.
Others showed police brutalizing protesters and pushing riot cars behind them.
“We are tired of corruption,” Samson Kiriya, a protester, told the AFP news agency through the bars of a van after his arrest.
Among those arrested was well-known TV and radio presenter Faiza Salima and three organizers of the demonstration – George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje.
Uganda Law Society president Bernard Oundo said 50 people were charged in one session.
“This was a rushed trial. They were arrested and taken to court in a very short time and remanded to prison without securing them bail,” he said.
“We will ensure these people receive justice.”
Uganda’s main opposition leader, Bobi Wine, said that security forces had surrounded the Kampala headquarters of his party, the Platform for National Unity before the march.
He said some of his party officials were “forcibly arrested” and offices were turned into “army barracks”.
Writing on X about the march, Bobi Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi, said: “Salutations to all who have courageously marched and are still marching against corruption and misrule – even in the face of very brutal actions by the military and police!
“The cowards have been picking up young people whose only crime is lifting up a placard.”
He added that legal and welfare teams will be provided to those who need them.
Earlier this year, the United Kingdom and the United States imposed sanctions on several Ugandan officials, including parliament speaker Anita and three former or current ministers, over alleged corruption.
Source: BBC News 
