On Thursday, Ugandan police detained 11 female lawmakers on suspicion of conducting an illegal demonstration in which some of the politicians were hurt in the process.
As they prepared to march to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they intended to deliver a protest message to the minister, the Members of Parliament (MPs) were held just outside the parliament buildings in Kampala, the country’s capital.
They were protesting what they perceived as police violence and the excessive use of force to disrupt events that female lawmakers had planned in their local districts in recent weeks.
“I strongly condemn the manner in which police this morning arrested the 11 women members of parliament who were peaceful and unarmed. Some are bleeding and for some, the clothes were torn. It was as if they were arresting terrorists,” parliament’s deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa said on Twitter.
“Their arrest was shamelessly done at the gates of Parliament. So I don’t know if really we are safe if people can be deployed at the gates of parliament just to beat harmless citizens.”
Police officers were seen fighting to shoo the politicians, who were all dressed in black clothes, into a vehicle in videos of the altercation that went viral on social media.
Luke Owoyesigyire, a spokesman for the police, refuted claims that officers had overreached. He claimed that the legislators had resisted arrest and had hurt some police personnel.
He said that they had been released on a police bond after being detained for participating in an unlawful protest.
Over the years, cruelty against opponents of veteran leader Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly been leveled against Uganda’s security forces.
