Police target journalists covering Makerere strike

Journalists deployed to cover Makerere University student protests against the 15 per cent tuition increment are nursing injuries after police yesterday fired tear gas at them.

Mr Alex Esagala, a photojournalist with Daily Monitor, clad in fully branded jacket showing he is a media person, was injured on Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road after police fired two teargas canisters at him.
“It was while I was composing to take shots of the students demonstrating that the gas canister exploded between my legs,” he said.

Mr Geoffrey Twesigye, a photographer with NTV Uganda, was not spared either. The two were taken to hospital where they were still receiving treatment by press time.

Mr Lawrence Kitata of Vision Group, who had been arrested on Tuesday and detained at Makerere University Police Post also suffered the same tale.
The police violence forced the press to flee to safety. They reconvened at Kann Hostel near Makerere to cover the student arrests.
One police officer dressed in their Field Force Unit uniform ordered the journalists to leave immediately saying their time at the scene was over.

The National Coordinator of Human Rights Network for Journalists, Mr Robert Ssempala, condemned the police brutality. “The police is failing in its mandate..,” Mr Ssempala said.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango instead blamed the journalists for being distant from police and getting caught up in the tear gas fire.

“We always advise journalists that in this kind of operation they should move near us because teargas does not discriminate,” Mr Onyango said.
He promised to inquire into the circumstances under which the journalists were brutalised.

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