Kampala - Ugandan police fired teargas
and water cannon on Monday to disperse supporters of popular
musician and lawmaker Bobi Wine after they gathered at a beach
resort near Kampala where he was planning to hold a news
conference and stage a concert.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has built
support since becoming a member of parliament two years ago.
Many young Ugandans have been drawn to him by his criticism of
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled for more than three
decades. Wine has said he plans to run for president in 2021.
Security forces have frequently prevented Wine, 37, from
staging concerts, often accusing him of failing to comply with
public order management rules. Wine and his supporters accuse
the government of cancelling his shows due to his political
ambitions.
"Police are empowered by the law to use reasonable force and
that's what we did to disperse his supporters and make him
comply with our orders," police spokesman Patrick Onyango told
Reuters.
Footage on local NTV showed police firing teargas and water
cannon at Wine's supporters gathered at One Love Beach in
Busabala on the shores of Lake Victoria on Kampala's southern
outskirts where he planned to stage a concert.
The footage showed police removing Wine from his vehicle and
shoving him into a police truck.
"Police and the military blocked us from reaching Busabala
for our press conference about police brutality, injustice and
abuse of authority," Bobi Wine said on Twitter.
"They have been trying to break into our car. Now they are
clamping it to drag us away," he said, shortly before his
administration team posted an update saying he was "violently
arrested."
The police spokesman said Wine was driven by police back to
his home in Kampala's northern outskirts.
Opponents of Museveni says he has used security crackdowns
and patronage to maintain power. The president's supporters say
he has brought order to a once unstable nation and has built up
a strong support base particularly in the countryside.
Last week, Uganda's supreme court cleared the way for
Museveni, 74, to stand again after rejecting a legal challenge
to a 2017 constitutional amendment that had removed an age
limit.