Africa News
Ugandan police break up protest against rising prices
May 10, 2011, 16:45 GMT
Kampala - Ugandan police Tuesday used tear gas and water cannons to break up a demonstration in Kampala by opposition parties protesting against rising food and oil prices.
An unspecified number of people were arrested.
A coalition of opposition party leaders had planned to hold a mass rally in the capital's Constitutional Square, but heavily armed police and the military blocked off the area and later used force to disperse the crowd.
Tuesday's demonstration was the latest in the country's month-long protests. It came two days before President Yoweri Museveni was due to be sworn in following February 18 elections that he won but which the opposition say were rigged.
'We were just walking peacefully and unarmed when police commanded by Museveni attacked us. This is a clear sign that the regime is falling,' opposition party leader Olara Otunnu said.
An international rights group, Human Rights Watch, in its latest report criticized the Ugandan government's handling of the protests, in which several people have died and hundreds injured or arrested.
Museveni told reporters Tuesday that his government would not tolerate the protests, which he said were funded by foreigners.
The country's main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, who was hospitalized in neighbouring Kenya after being inured in previous protests, was to fly back to the country Wednesday.
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