Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Green Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
Afghan Journal
Africa Journal
India Insight
Global News Journal
Pakistan: Now or Never?
World Video
Politics
Politics Home
Front Row Washington
Politics Video
Technology
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
Breakingviews
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Gregg Easterbrook
Nader Mousavizadeh
James Saft
David Cay Johnston
Edward Hadas
Christopher Whalen
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
The Great Debate
Unstructured Finance
Newsmaker
Money
Money Home
Analyst Research
Global Investing
MuniLand
Reuters Money
John Wasik
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Life & Culture
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Left Field
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
WRAPUP 2-Thai floods to slash growth, crisis not over for Bangkok
8:42am EDT
Discussed
241
Who’s behind the Wall St. protests?
157
Alabama immigration law decried, applauded as some flee state
95
Obama jobs roadshow seeks to tap anti-Wall St anger
Watched
Japanese airline, ANA, apologises for plane flip
Fri, Sep 30 2011
Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon dies after fiery crash
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video
Tue, Sep 27 2011
Uganda cracks down on opposition, arrests leader
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
About 175 arrested early Sunday in Chicago protest
Sun, Oct 16 2011
Global "Day of Rage" mostly peaceful, Rome clears
Sun, Oct 16 2011
Thousands protest banks, corporate greed in U.S. marches
Sat, Oct 15 2011
Wall Street protests go global; riots in Rome
Sat, Oct 15 2011
Demonstrators rampage through Rome, clash with police
Sat, Oct 15 2011
Analysis & Opinion
The instability of inequality
Tunisia police tear gas Islamists protesting “blasphemous” film and niqab ban
Related Topics
World »
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA |
Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:40am EDT
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police briefly arrested opposition leader Kizza Besigye on Tuesday and said they would charge 15 protesters with treason in an effort to quell demonstrations against rising prices.
Deadly protests in April and May over soaring food and fuel prices were crushed by President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for more than two decades. Besigye was badly beaten and put under house arrest.
The protest movement, led by the Activists 4 Change (A4C)group, has struggled to rally large numbers since then, mainly because Besigye has largely stayed away from demonstrations.
On Tuesday, Besigye's party, the Forum for Democratic Change, said he was briefly arrested when he joined a "walk-to-work" protest on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala.
Later, police said the former presidential contender had been released and taken to his home in the Kasangati suburb.
Opposition youths reacted angrily to his detention, hurling rocks at passing vehicles. Police used teargas and water-cannon trucks spraying pink-colored water to disperse the protesters.
Analysts said this opposition agitation was unlikely to grow into a serious threat to the government given the international community's muted response to the previous crackdown.
"Police brutality in April and May was not punished and neither did we see strong condemnation of Museveni from the Western powers, and this discourages would-be protesters," said political analyst Nicholas Ssengoba.
Ugandan troops form the backbone of a peacekeeping mission in Somalia, a task few countries are willing to undertake.
"FLIMSY CHARGES"
Police said they had detained 45 opposition protesters since Sunday and would charge 15 of them with treason.
The police said they had unveiled a plot to overthrow the government. The opposition described the treason charges, which carry the death penalty, as flimsy.
Kale Kayihura, the inspector general for police, told reporters that security forces had obtained a recording of a September 23 meeting in which participants said they planned to use protests to topple the government.
"We have arrested 45 people across the country so far and 15 of these will be charged with treason today or tomorrow," Kayihura said.
According to Kayihura, a person can be heard in the recording saying: "The task remaining is how to bring down this regime" and "we must walk without stopping until the government falls."
Kayihura accused the group of seeking to plunge Uganda into lawlessness.
"Clearly, as you can see, the whole intention of A4C's post-election campaign is geared at overthrowing the government through means other than what is provided for by the constitution of the republic of Uganda. This is a criminal offence called 'treason.'"
Deputy foreign envoy for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Ann Mugisha, dismissed Kayihura's accusation.
"A4C is absolutely clear and unwavering in its commitment to non-violence in its activities. (The)Police just want to use serious charges to keep our activists out of action," she said.
Soaring consumer prices sent Uganda's inflation rocketing to 28.3 percent in September, its highest level since January 1993, fueled by a weak local currency and high food prices.
Uganda, Africa's third-largest economy, hopes to become a top-50 oil producer in the next four years.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Richard Lough)
World
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.