![UGANDA PROTESTS: Police Arrest More Protesters For 'Playing With Fire'[VIDEO]](https://africasnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kenya-2024-07-25T234611.436.jpg)
UGANDA PROTESTS: Police Arrest More Protesters For ‘Playing With Fire'[VIDEO]
Ugandan police detained several people in the capital Kampala on Thursday, the second day of anti-corruption protests demanding the resignation of the parliament speaker, according to local media footage.
Drawing inspiration from weeks of youth-led protests in neighboring Kenya that forced the president to withdraw proposed tax hikes, young Ugandans began demonstrating this week against alleged graft by elected leaders.
📹 Scenes from Parliament Avenue.
— NTV UGANDA (@ntvuganda) July 25, 2024
Police face difficulty arresting human rights activist Nana Mwafrika and two other male activists, cutting short their march to Parliament in protest against corruption. #NTVNews
Video by @AniwaluKatamba pic.twitter.com/MMVROGtT7q
On Tuesday, police quickly shut down a planned march to parliament.
According to Chapter Four Uganda, an organisation that provides legal services to those detained, at least 73 young protesters have been arrested.
More demonstrators took to the streets on Thursday, according to a video posted on X by the Daily Monitor newspaper.
The video shows police in riot gear forcing several young adults into the back of a truck while shouting protest slogans.
NTV Uganda broadcast footage of about a dozen people marching with signs reading “The Corrupt are Messing with a Wrong Generation” and “This is our 1986,” referring to President Yoweri Museveni’s overthrow of a repressive government.
When asked for comment, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke referred Reuters to comments he made on Monday, in which he said protests had been banned because they would be hijacked by looters and vandals.
Museveni, who had warned protesters against “playing with fire” the previous weekend, accused them of receiving foreign funding on Thursday.
“Those involved should know that Uganda is not a neo-colony,” he said. “The fight against corruption is in my hands. I just need evidence and action will be taken.”
The protesters’ demands include the resignation of parliament speaker Anita Among, who was sanctioned by the US and the UK earlier this year for alleged corruption.
Police Violence continues to take Shape during #march2parliament protests where over 100 Ugandans have been detained and remanded to different government Maximum Security Prisons. As world discusses the Loss and Damage Fund, it should never land into hands of Corrupt officials pic.twitter.com/xOS50yNOp2
— Students Against Eacop Uganda🇺🇬 (@Studenteacop) July 25, 2024
Among has denied all allegations of graft and claims she is being targeted by Western governments for her role in passing harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation last year.
Ugandan protesters have adopted slogans from their counterparts in Kenya, where more than 50 people have been killed in six weeks of protests, describing themselves as “fearless” and “leaderless”.
Nigerian activists are also attempting to emulate the Kenyan protests, calling for demonstrations next month in response to a cost-of-living crisis.
UGANDA PROTESTS: Police Arrest More Protesters For ‘Playing With Fire'[VIDEO]
