Field Force commander SSP Rashid Agero acted lawfully- Police

Police have said there is no need to prosecute their Field Force Commander, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rashid Agero, for brutalizing and smashing Dr Kizza Besigye’s vehicle.
The Police Spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, said whatever SSP Agero and his juniors did to Besigye and other members of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was within the confines of the law and well streamlined in standards police operations procedures particularly when handling riotous crowds.

Mr Enanga said that Besigye adamantly parked in the middle of road disrupting traffic flow, especially at Spear Motors junction. Police say all engagements with Besigye hit a snag and available measures had to be used to clear the road to allow smooth movement of road users.

SSP Agero is in a video that has since gone viral seen smashing Dr Besigye’s vehicle using a gun butt before spraying pepper on him inside his vehicle.

The four-time presidential contender nearly fell off the roof of his vehicle when police use high-pressure water cannon to force him out.
Addressing journalists a day after the incident that was widely condemned, Dr Besigye said he was only saved by people inside his car after they tightly held his legs.

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  FDC spokesperson, Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, said Dr Besigye was sprayed with dangerous chemicals and the party would not sit back

However, Mr Enanga said Riot Police also known as Field Force Police (FFP) used the well-known measures to deal with defiant people. These measures, according to Mr Enanga, include breaking car glasses, windows or doors to gain access or enter a house, a car to remove or arrest a person deemed a threat.

“There was heavy disruption of traffic. We had a gridlock for over three hours just because of the defiant conduct of Dr Kizza Besigye and we see no reason as to why you ould purposely come out and disrupt traffic flow in a busy section like that… So our officers are given the powers under the Police Act to break and enter. We can break and enter any building structure, vessel, vehicle and that’s what we did. In this case, the hooks which could have been used before towing Dr Kizza Besigye’s vehicle were tampered with. And the fact that there was heavy disruption, we had to use whatever alternatives were available. We had to break into his vehicle before we managed to remove and take him to Nagalama Police Station in Mukono District,” he said.

Dr Besigye was heading to a seminar organised at Namboole stadium but police blocked the venue insisting that the stadium was under renovation. Enanga said Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and FDC President Patrick Oboi Amuriat, followed police’s guidance but Besigye was defiant.

The brutal arrest of Dr Besigye and other FDC members was condemned by human rights bodies and Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga asked government to explain whether multi-party system was still viable since other political parties are not allowed to conduct their activities.
Dr Besigye and other FDC members have since started a campaign to raise one million signatures from Ugandans to have President Museveni and other security officers prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) based at Hague in Netherlands.