Besigye besieged at Kasangati home
SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 8 OCTOBER 2012
Hundreds of riot, regular and anti-terrorism police have on Monday besieged the Kasangati home of Dr Kizza Besigye, leader of the country’s largest opposition party, who for the second week remains under lock-down with the police invoking a colonial era ‘preventative arrest’ ordinance to keep him indoors.
The heavy deployment follows a late-night clash between security personnel and Dr Besigye over a tyre spike the FDC president insisted should not be placed in front of his gate.
A spike is a metallic device used to stop movement of wheeled vehicles by puncturing their tyres. Several spikes are placed on the road that leads to Dr Besigye’s Kasangati residence.
A senior FDC official, Maj Rubaramira Ruranga, told Daily Monitor, that the standoff ensued after members of Mr Besigye’s household removed a spike [tyre perforator] that had been positioned at the gate and placed it on the roadside.
However, security personnel insisted that on the spike remaining infront of the gate.
According to Maj Rubaramira, the standoff ensued at around 11:00am and ended after 1:00 am.
“It was too late and the standoff could not be resolved deep in the night,”Maj Rubaramira added.
Authorities appear to be taking no chances after Dr Besigye twice last week slipped through a lesser cordon and suddenly emerged in town to take part in the ‘Walk to Freedom’ protests, drawing large crowds of supporters.
On both occasions, Dr Besigye was violently arrested, bundled into a police van where he was allegedly roughed up and detained at Kasangati and Kira Division Police posts till late without charge.
A particularly brutal police clampdown on the protests on Thursday last week left scores injured in Kampala’s central business district with some people sustaining gunshot wounds.
Police says it will not accept any public rally organized by any group across the country because they would interrupt the independence celebrations.
An-as-yet unexplained attempt by the police to break into Dr Besigye’s house last night was foiled by the opposition leader and supporters.
A press briefing is underway this morning in Kasangati and is expected to be addressed by Forum for Democratic Change party leaders who have all indicated support for their walk to freedom protests, a new campaign against President Museveni’s government.
No comments:
Post a Comment