Dozens of people have been arrested in the Ugandan capital Kampala after taking part in scattered protests against corruption, despite an official ban.
Lawyers said about 60 people, including a well-known TV presenter and three young protest leaders, were rushed to court and detained after a march on the country’s parliament on Tuesday.
President Yoweri Museven, who ruled Uganda for nearly four decades, had warned before the event that the protesters were ‘playing with fire’.
The march was organised on social media amid anger over long-running corruption allegations involving several senior government officials.
The protests were partly inspired by demonstrations last month in neighboring Kenya forcing President William Ruto to abandon planned tax hikes.
The police had previously indicated that they would not give permission for the march and would not allow any demonstration that would endanger the “peace and security” of Uganda.
Riot police were seen at roadblocks on Tuesday, while security forces closed roads and stood guard around the parliament building.
Photos showed protesters holding signs reading “Stop corruption” and calling parliament a “den of thieves”. Another said: “We are peaceful protesters”.
Other photos show protesters being beaten by police and pushed into the backs of riot police vans.
“We are fed up with corruption,” protester Samson Kiriya told AFP news agency through the bars of a van after he was arrested.
Among those arrested are well-known television and radio presenter Faiza Salima and three protest organisers: George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje.
According to Bernard Oundo, chairman of the Uganda Law Society, 50 people were charged at one hearing.
“This was a rushed process. They were arrested and brought to court in a very short time and remanded in custody without being granted bail,” he said.
“We will make sure that these people get justice.”
On the eve of the march, Uganda’s main opposition leader Bobi Wine said security forces had besieged the headquarters of his party, the National Unity Platform, in Kampala.
He said some of his party officials had been “forcibly arrested” and the offices had been converted into “military barracks”.
Write on X After the march, Mr Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said: “A big thank you to all who have marched and are still marching courageously against corruption and misgovernance – even in the face of the very brutal actions of the military and police!
“Those cowards arrested young people who were just holding up a banner.”
He added that legal and welfare teams would be made available to those who need them.
Earlier this year, the UK and US imposed sanctions on a number of Ugandan officials, including Speaker of Parliament Anita Among and three former or sitting ministers, over alleged involvement in corruption.
