FDC activists arrested
Ms Catherine Dembe, an FDC councillor in Mpigi District, is arrested at City House yesterday. Ms Dembe and other FDC activists were on their way to Parliament to deliver a petition to the Leader of Opposition in Parliament over the taxes. PHOTO BY PATRICK OCAIDO.
What you need to know:
Police could not let the women activists proceed with their intention to deliver a petition protesting against the new taxes on water and kerosene.
Kampala
The police yesterday arrested five Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) women activists and placed them under “preventive arrest” as the Force thwarted preparations to present a petition to Parliament, contesting new taxes in the 2012/2013 Budget.
Mr Francis Mwijukye, an FDC official who witnessed the arrest, said officers commanded by Mr James Ruhweza, the district police commander for Central Police Station, stormed City House yesterday afternoon.
According to Mr Mwijukye, the officers sealed off the FDC office branch where the women were meeting, before Mr Ruhweza ordered the arrest of 12 of the more than 100 women activists who had assembled there. They were later detained at CPS.
Among the arrested women were Ms Ingrid Turinawe, the head of the FDC Women’s League, and Ms Anna Adeke Ebaju, the Makerere University Guild President. “When they realised that police had surrounded the office, they locked themselves in but police forcibly broke in,” Mr Mwijukye said.
Yesterday, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Mr Ibin Senkumbi, said seven of the women had been released, while five remained under “preventive arrest”. “They were planning to present a petition to Parliament but they were not expected there,” Mr Senkumbi said.
By press time, police were still holding the women.
