Former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President Kizza Besigye is being held at Nagalama police station following his arrest on Monday morning, the police have said.
Besigye was arrested around Kireka as he drove to Namboole Stadium where FDC had organized an assembly. According to Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango, the event at Namboole had not been cleared, as police advised organizers to change venue.
“FDC informed us about the intended celebration and we wrote back to them advising that they should shift the venue but they ignored our directives,” Onyango said. He added: “Former FDC President Dr. Kiiza Besigye defied Police orders and parked his vehicle in the middle of the road, blocking and inconveniencing other road users.The car was towed away and he was taken to Naggalama Police Station. At the moment no charges have been preferred against him but investigators are still gathering evidence.”
The angered FDC party members who decided to march in a procession from Mandela national stadium to their party headquarters in Najanankumbi were intercepted by police that tried to disperse their procession on the busy Kampala-Jinja highway.
Some of the FDC party supporters on foot and vehicles soldiered on attracting crowds, which prompted police to use tear gas, water cannon and live bullets to disperse them. This resulted into running battles between police and the FDC party members whose numbers kept growing.
To contain the situation, police tried to arrest the leaders of the procession including Kira Municipality Member of Parliament; Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, who is also the FDC party spokesperson, but he disappeared. Dr Kizza Besigye, the former FDC party president continued waving to the crowd from his vehicle.
Police blocked his car with the help of about six police patrol trucks and later towed his car to Naggalama Police Station. However, some of the chains used to tow Besigye’s car broke as the crowd cheered the four-time presidential candidate who could come out of the open roof vehicle and wave to them.
At this point, used a water cannon to force Besigye out of his car. They later managed to force him out of the vehicle and bundled him into a police van, which sped off to Naggalama.
Meanwhile, police have rubbished as false social media reports that a woman had been shot during the police operation in Kireka. “There is a photograph circulating on social media purporting that a woman was shot and killed today in Kireka Trading Centre. This is not true. No death has been registered in this operation,” Onyango maintained.
