A 19-year-old Ugandan student was shot dead on Sunday when security forces dispersed a school protest over the screening of an English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Manchester United.
Gulu Central High School students at a high school threw stones at the buildings after they were prohibited from watching the game. The student, 19, was hit by a bullet after he climbed a tree to avoid danger, the headmaster, Awani Jimi, said.
Some 1,000 pupils were sent home as the boarding school was shut for two weeks.
Describing the deceased as polite, gentle and hard-working, Jimi said the student had only been at the school for six weeks after switching from another school. He described him as “polite, gentle and hard-working”.
The match was taking place around the same time that the students were to go to their evening revision, he said, explaining the reasons for the shooting.
Jimi said the school usually shows football matches that kick-off between 14:00-18:00 local time since at 19:00, students are expected to be revising.
However, this angered the students and teachers and security guards tried to calm them down, local media reported.
After a local police officer fired tear gas and called for support from a nearby army post, the situation became tense.
In response to a security meeting with the district commissioner for Gulu, the school management closed the school for two weeks and sent students home to their families.
In neighbouring Kenya, students often protest violently about issues such as food or teacher behaviour.
An 18-year-old former student was jailed last month for setting her school on fire in order to transfer to another school. Ten students died in the blaze.