Top IPC officials including FDC leader Dr Kiiza Besigye and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago have been arrested on their way to Katwe for a rally organised the Activists for Change.
The other IPC officials arrested include MPs Nabilah Ssempala, Ssemujju Nganda, Mathias Mpuuga and Wafula Oguttu among others. They were rounded up and bundled onto police cars and drove off. Besigye was bundled onto a police pick up truck registration number UP 1928 while the other officials were ordered to board a police bus registration number UP 2967.
After a four-hour meeting at IPC offices on Katonga road, the officials started their journey in a convoy of eight cars all heading to Katwe for the rally. As they convoy joined Ssezibwa road, police commanded by Kampala DPC Norman Musinga and Lawrence Nuwabaine intercepted them and started demanding for their driving permits. After about an hour the IPC officials decided to abandon their cars and walk to Katwe but were arrested shortly after they started walking.
Mpuuga last week announced the resumption of the Walk to Work protests arguing that the situation has not changed since the last protests in April and May last year.
Earlier on Thursday, police fired teargas to disperse people who had gathered around Kampala Woman MP Nabilah Ssempala in Ndeeba as she attempted to drive to Katwe, the planned venue for the rally. Kampala Metropolitan Police director, Andrew Kaweesi told Uganda Radio Network that IPC officials planned to walk in the morning but police deployed and blocked them. Kaweesi says his men deployed at the homes of the suspected officials including Ssempala, who had reportedly spent a night with Anne Mugisha. Police also deployed at the homes of Besigye, Major General Mugisha Muntu, the FDC secretary for mobilisation, and Ssemujju among others.
Kaweesi says he is deploying up to 10,000 policemen to manage the situation in the city. These include trainees from Police Training School, Kabalye.
