Jinja police mount door-to-door hunt for Arsenal fans

Tweeting cop Asan Kasingye has bemoaned the “low-grade harassment” of Arsenal fans by police in Jinja City after the Gunners lost the English Premier League title yesterday.
Manchester was on Sunday, May 28, 2023, crowned the Premier League champions with the Gunners, who lost 2-0 at home to Wolves, ending their promising season by finishing third and sad.

However, like hyenas that eat their prey alive, the police in Jinja mounted a door-to-door search for Arsenal fans, saying the Gooners needed to be served their payback chilled and laced with red pepper.
“These Arsenal fans think they can be clever by a half but this is the time for them to show their loyalty to the team by mourning the failure to win the Premier League,” James Mubi, the Kira regional police spokesperson, said.
Mr Mubi said police had prepared a written permission for Arsenal fans to come out and mourn but that to the dismay of police, there weren’t any fans of the North-London team showing up to take up the unusual permission to hold a procession and public assembly.

“It should be noted that in January, with 18 games to play, Arsenal fans stormed the streets in celebration after beating Manchester United – they should come and mourn,” Mubi said.
In January, eight Arsenal fans were arrested in Jinja after stunning the city by showing up in open-roof cars with a Shs700 trophy that they paraded in celebration after Arsenal beat rivals Manchester United 3-2 at the Emirates.
Mubi said the police had already provided the security for the procession.
However, AIGP Kasingye, who is also the chairman of the Arsenal fans in Uganda, said he was dismayed by the arrest of his fellow Gooners.

“This is low-grade harassment,” Kasingye said, “you can’t force us to mourn just because they celebrated prematurely last time. Whoever did it, lacked common sense required of LEOs [Law Enforcement Officers].”
Sources say two Arsenal fans were picked up from Bugembe town by eagle-eyed police officers despite them making every effort to disguise the replica shirts of their team that they were wearing.
“They turned their jerseys inside-out and wore them upside-down but the police put up an award-winning determination to get them,” said a Tottenham fan this writer found selling boiled yams in Bugembe.

Arsenal came close to ending 19 years of Premier League trophy drought. The Gunners led for most of the season. They famously eliminated any lingering doubts about their title credentials in January when they beat bitter rivals United 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium.
However, six defeats in their last nine games – including the humiliating 4-0 thumping at the hands of Newcastle United three weeks ago, left the Gunners looking more to their ancestors than their own results on the pitch – for the title.
The ancestors did not turn up, it seems, as the heavy defeat was followed by a dampening draw at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Mr Mubi said unlike in January when fans who did not even know anything about Arsenal turned up to celebrate the victory over United, this time round the police had waved everything.
“One turn deserves another, they must come and mourn,” Mubi added.
But Kasingye said mourning cannot be forced upon anyone.
By press time, police were sweeping Namulesa parish in Jinja North for the fans who, like Mario Puzo would say, had gone into the mattress.

Disclaimer: This is a parody column