Police, troops block Ugandan opposition headquarters ahead of planned anti-govt protests

Soldiers and police sealed off the headquarters of Uganda's biggest opposition party on Monday in what a police spokesperson called a precautionary move ahead of planned anti-government protests on Tuesday.

In posts on social media platform X, National Unity Platform party chief Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said security personnel had surrounded NUP headquarters in the capital Kampala, barring anyone from entering or exiting.

He said several NUP leaders had been "violently arrested" and also showed pictures of military personnel at the premises alongside parked army trucks.

"The military and police have raided and surrounded the National Unity Platform offices ..." Wine said.

"The cowardly regime is so afraid of the people because they know how much they have wronged them!"

Soldiers and police sealed off the National Unity Platform headquarters on July 22, 2024. (Photo: X/Bobi Wine)

Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke did not immediately respond when sought for comment about the leaders' arrests.

Museveni challenger

Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has in recent years emerged as the biggest challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has led the East African nation since 1986.

Ugandan youth who have spearheaded recent protests are planning to March to parliament on Tuesday in defiance of a ban on the demonstration, which is intended to denounce alleged widespread corruption and human rights abuses under Museveni's long-time rule. Wine said his party was not organising Tuesday's protests, but it supported them.

Rusoke said security forces had taken precautionary steps against what he called NUP's "mobilisation for the protest".

Several NUP leaders were arrested outside their party headquarters on July 22, 2024. (Photo: X/Bobi Wine)

"We have been monitoring (this). Their activities raised a red flag and we took precautionary measures," he said.

Opposition leaders and rights activists say embezzlement and misuse of government funds are widespread in Uganda and have long accused Museveni of failing to prosecute corrupt top-level officials who are politically loyal or related to him.

Museveni has repeatedly denied tolerating corruption and says whenever there is sufficient evidence, culprits are prosecuted, for example, lawmakers and even ministers.

In a speech on Saturday, he warned Ugandan youth against the planned protests, alleging they were sponsored by foreigners.

"Some elements, some of them from the opposition, are always working with the foreigners to foment chaos in Uganda – riots, illegal demonstrations, illegal and inconsiderate processions, etc. These people ... should check themselves or we shall have no alternative but to check them," he said.