Dozens arrested during anti-government protests in Uganda

Dozens of people were arrested in the Ugandan capital Kampala after joining isolated protests against corruption in defiance of an official ban.

Lawyers said about 60 people, including a well-known television presenter and three young protest leaders, were hastily tried and remanded in custody following a march on the country’s parliament on Tuesday.

President Yoweri Museven, who has ruled Uganda for nearly four decades, had warned before the event that the protesters were “playing with fire.”

The march was organized on social media amid anger over long-standing corruption allegations against several senior state officials.

Police had previously stated that they had refused permission for the march and would not allow any demonstration that threatened Uganda’s “peace and security”.

On Tuesday, riot police were seen manning roadblocks, while members of the security forces cordoned off streets and kept watch around the parliament building.

Images showed protesters holding signs reading “Stop corruption” and calling parliament a “den of thieves.” Another said: “We are peaceful protesters.”

Other images showed demonstrators being mistreated by police and forced into the backs of police vehicles.

“We are fed up with corruption,” protester Samson Kiriya told AFP news agency through the grille of a van after his arrest.

Those arrested included well-known television and radio presenter Faiza Salima and three protest organisers – George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje.

Bernard Oundo, president of the Uganda Law Society, said 50 people were charged at a hearing.

“This was a summary trial. They were arrested, tried and remanded in custody within a very short period of time without being granted bail,” he said.

“We will ensure that these people receive justice.”

On the eve of the march, Uganda’s main opposition leader Bobi Wine said security forces had besieged the headquarters of his National Unity Platform party in Kampala.

He said some of his party officials had been “violently arrested” and the offices had been turned into “military barracks.”

After the march, Mr Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, wrote on X: “My thanks go to all those who have marched and are still marching courageously against corruption and mismanagement – even in the face of the very brutal crackdown by the military and police!”

“The cowards have picked up young people whose only crime is holding up a placard.”

He added that legal and social teams would be made available to those who needed them.

Earlier this year, the UK and US imposed sanctions on a number of Ugandan officials, including Parliament Speaker Anita Among and three former or current ministers, for alleged involvement in corruption.