Man narrates curfew ordeal
What you need to know:
- Mr Byamukama said his samosas worth Shs60,000 were thrown on the ground on top of beating him.
Just a few hours to the time of curfew on Tuesday, a number of people were seen racing on the streets to be home before 7 pm.
Some were seen murmuring about their fear of being beaten by the Local Defence Force Units (LDU).
Two minutes to curfew time, in some areas such as Sseguku on Entebbe Road, the security forces started chasing people off the streets and forced business to close.
Mr Dickson Byamukama, a samosa vendor vowed to be home yesterday before 7pm following his previous experience with the LDU’s on Tuesday.
Mr Byamukama said, at 7:30pm on his way home to Kisugu, a one security officer ordered a group of LDU personnel to beat him up while saying it was past curfew time.
“They asked where I was coming from. I told them I had been at work and was heading home. The security officers then asked me if I had a watch before I could reply they started beating me. I work in town and was at Shell Jinja Road at 7:30pm. I had stayed around to watch NTV news at 7pm from Nakasero Market since I had not made any profit anyway. The way they beat me up, I will make sure I am home by 7pm,”
He added, “I was first given ten strokes, as I tried to stand they started hitting my back, as you can see the wounds are all over my back.”
Mr Byamukama said his samosas worth Shs60,000 were thrown on the ground on top of beating him.
The President on Monday put restrictions on the use of private vehicles as well as instituted a curfew that starts at 7pm. It, however, would not affect cargo planes, lorries, pickups and trains.
As of Monday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose to 44 from 33. At least 1,015 are under follow up and under institutional quarantine. A total of 660 contacts to the confirmed cases are under follow up.
Globally, 872,696 coronavirus cases have been confirmed with 43,269 dead and 184,514 recovered as of yesterday.
