Jobless youth take pigs protest to Jinja, charged with violation of animal rights
Some of the piglets painted yellow after they were dropped on Nizam Road East in Jinja Town. PHOTO BY MOSES OKEYA
Jinja- Two members of the Jobless Youth Brotherhood were at the weekend arrested by police in Jinja over allegedly holding an illegal assembly and violating pigs’ rights.
Mr Augustine Ojobire and Mr Frank Nsamba were arrested after they staged a demonstration on Nizam Road in the central business district of Jinja Town in protest against the high rate of unemployment among the youth.
A group of about 20 youth arrived in the town at around 11am aboard a Super Custom Ominibus.
They dropped two yellow-painted piglets with manila papers tagged on their necks bearing messages denouncing the NRM government for failure to address youth unemployment.
The yellow piglets attracted the attention of onlookers before the group emerged to address the media and the public.
The leader of the group, Mr Augustine Ojobire, said the demonstration was planned to coincide with celebrations to mark the International Labour Day.
He said they wanted to show that the national celebrations that were being held in Kisoro District on the same day were a mockery.
“We have rejected your mockery of the International Labour Day celebrations. Such celebrations are meaningless in a country where the majority of its energetic citizens are unemployed. Instead of creating new jobs, they are creating new constituencies. Does that make sense?” Mr Ojobire asked.
When the group started their march on the street, the police led by the Jinja District police commander, Mr Apollo Kateeba, swung into action sending most of them into disarray, but managed to arrest two.
“There is no way you can bring pigs into town claiming you are protesting. They never even informed the police about the assembly. They will be charged with holding an unlawful assembly and violating the rights of pigs,” Mr Kateeba said.
