Animal Activists criticise police officers who kicked piglets at parliament
A police officer kicks the piglets off parliament premises. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa.
What you need to know:
One of the piglets, branded Kato Lubwama, the Lubaga South MP, was kicked and tortured to death by the police officers on duty during their seizure. The demonstration was intended to portray the MPs as greedy
Kampala.
Animal rights activists have condemned police officers for brutalising piglets used in a protest at Parliament.
On Thursday, youth belonging to the Jobless Brotherhood
Youth drop yellow, blue piglets at Parliament, protest Shs200m cars for MPs
Two members belonging to the Jobless Brotherhood pressure group have this morning dropped piglets at Parliament to protest the government’s decision to award Members of Parliament with Shs200m each for new cars
, protesting government’s decision to give Shs200 million for each MPs vehicle and the “indifference” of peoples’ representatives.
One of the piglets, branded Kato Lubwama, the Lubaga South MP, was kicked and tortured to death by the police officers on duty during their seizure.
Opposition, NRM MPs greedy- Pig protestors
Youth activists behind piglets protest staged at parliament on Thursday have said it was meant to symbolise how greedy members of parliament have become especially the opposition and their leader Winnie Kiiza
.
The Uganda Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (USPCA), a non-profit animal welfare organisation, told Sunday Monitor that both the youth who brought the piglets to town and the police officers who kicked the animals violated their rights as stated in the Animals Prevention of cruelty Act of 1958.
Mr Alex Ochieng, the manager of USPCA, said similar to human beings, animals also have rights.
“The police officers ought to have handled the animals properly. Pigs are innocent and no one should use them to advance their interests,” he said.
The co-founder of USPCA, Katia Allard Ruiz, said the law needs to be enforced because animals too have rights.
“What happened yesterday (Thursday) happens to animals daily,” she said, adding that animal rights are violated at various slaughter houses.
The Animals (Protection of Cruelty Act) 1958, defines cruel offences against animals by human beings in various forms such as beatings, kicks, ill-treatment, overloading and tortures or infuriates.
“Any person who kills any animal in an unnecessarily cruel manner commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Shs1,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or both,” section two of the Act states.
The Kampala Police Metropolitan spokesperson, Emillian Kayima, said the police officers who were on duty acted in panic while seizing the animals. Police arrested two members of the Jobless Brotherhood who dropped the piglets at Parliament.
The two suspects were on Friday sent on remand to Luzira Prison by the Buganda Road Magistrate’s Court until September 26.
The youth were arrested alongside the piglets painted in two colours- yellow and blue meant to show that Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) legislators and National Resistance Movement (NRM) legislators have united to advance their personal interests.
Past piglet protests
In May 2013, protestors in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, released a pig and about a dozen piglets outside parliament to show their anger at newly elected MPs demanding higher salaries.
In June 2014, two students belonging to the Jobless Brotherhood smuggled two pigs into the parking lot of Parliament protesting political corruption and youth unemployment.
