Uganda police fire teargas to break up rally
Source: Reuters
By Tim Cocks KAMPALA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Ugandan security forces fired gunshots and teargas to break up an opposition demonstration that paralysed the centre of the capital Kampala on Saturday. It was the second political rally to be halted in the city since mid-November when the police ruled the central business district off-limits to demonstrators. "We have a constitutional right to demonstrate," said protester Patrick Turinawi, a student. "What democracy is this if every time the opposition meet the police attack us?" Hundreds of Democratic Party (DP) supporters had earlier gathered in a central Kampala square to denounce the unsolved 1987 murder of former rebel leader Andrew Kayiira. But they were scattered by police and troops firing shots in the air, launching volleys of teargas canisters and spraying the crowds with water laced with irritant chemicals. The demonstrators hurled stones back, but no one was hurt. At least one DP supporter was arrested, witnesses said. Local police chief Grace Turyagumanawe told reporters the demonstrators had been warned in advance not to try to enter central Kampala. "They can go to another place, to the stadium. They can assemble anywhere else," he said. President Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in a coup a year before Kayiira's death, was once hailed as a new breed of African leader. But donors have become frustrated with what diplomats see as his increasingly autocratic style. Those fears were raised when parliament abolished term limits in 2004 to let him run for election again, and Western nations cut millions of dollars in aid after his main poll opponent, Kizza Besigye, was put on trial for treason and rape. In November, police chased members of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change from the same Kampala square, where they had gathered to launch new identity cards for the party.
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