Uganda’s Security Minister Elly Tumwine has backed police action after 37 people were killed on Wednesday and Thursday following clashes with supporters of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine.
In a media briefing Mr Tumwine said: Quote Message:
” Police have a right to shoot you and kill you if you reach a certain level of violence. Can I repeat? Police have a right to shoot you and you die for nothing.”
Protests have rocked Uganda since last year, when the government amended the constitution to abolish presidential age limits, allowing President Yoweri Museveni to stay in power indefinitely.
Bobi Wine appeared in court on Friday and has been released on bail after being charged with spreading coronavirus.
Protesters supporting opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine, seen on placard, gather around the dead body of a man who they claimed had been shot by police but which could not be immediately verified, during clashes with security forces in Kampala, Uganda Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020. Police in Uganda said three people died and 38 were injured in protests that broke out on Wednesday in Uganda’s capital after police arrested Bobi Wine, a musician and opposition politician who is seeking the presidency in next year’s election. (AP Photo)
He has been accused of failing to adhere to health measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus while campaigning for next year’s election.
In August, Wine’s driver was shot dead, and the lawmaker was beaten and tortured. Wine believes government forces are responsible.
After the beating Bobi was taken to the USA to recover. The US seems to be grooming him as a possible replacement of Museveni. The U.S. provides Uganda with more than $970 million a year in assistance, according to the U.S. State Department, with the bulk of financial support aimed at Museveni’s security apparatus..
Uganda government spokesman Don Wanyama told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that security officers could not “just fold their arms and allow anarchy to happen”.
Bobi Wine at moment of new arrest
He added that the police and army were responding to a security breach in the capital, Kampala.. The death toll has risen to at least 37 people.
He also defended President Yoweri Museveni for adhering to health protocols.
Mr Wanyama said:Quote Message: President Museveni who is the NRM presidential candidate, I think has stuck by the rules that were issued by the electoral commission and the ministry of health… but unfortunately for the opposition they have chosen to take a path of defiance placing their supporters and the wider public at risk.”
Bobi Wine protests: City Mortuary receives 19 bodies.
President Museveni who is the NRM presidential candidate, I think has stuck by the rules that were issued by the electoral commission and the ministry of health… but unfortunately for the opposition they have chosen to take a path of defiance placing their supporters and the wider public at risk.”
latest: Bobi Wine freed on bail as protest death toll hits 37
The Free 