Uganda police claim 104 held in anti-graft protests

KAMPALA, July 27

The police in Uganda arrested 104 persons during anti-corruption protests this week and almost all of them have been charged with public order offences, a police statement said late on Friday.

The government’s response to the street protests drew criticism from rights campaigners and the United States, which said it was “concerned” by the arrests of dozens of protesters who were “demonstrating peacefully”.

In a statement posted on its X account on Friday, the US embassy in Uganda urged the government of President Yoweri Museveni to investigate allegations that some of the detained protesters had been assaulted.

Young Ugandans took to the streets on Tuesday and Thursday to protest alleged graft by elected leaders in the East African country, drawing inspiration from youth-led protests in Kenya that led the president there to scrap proposed tax hikes. — Reuters