Nine remanded to Luzira for protesting oil pipeline construction
Nine people accused of protesting oil pipeline construction in the dock at Buganda Road Court on Wednesday. Photo | Juliet Kigongo
What you need to know:
- They appeared before Buganda Road Court Grade one magistrate Fedelis Itwau where they were formally charged with common nuisance. They however denied the charge slapped against them by the state.
Nine people who were arrested during a demonstration in support of the European Union (EU) parliament resolution calling for the delay of the development of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), have been charged and remanded to Luzira prison.
The nine who include students from Kyambogo, Gulu and Makerere Universities are; Java Ntabazi, 25, Vicent Lubega, 21, Alphose Nkurunziza, 23, Gerald Wenani, 24, David Musiri, 34, Benjamin Akiso, 22, and Akisi Gonga, 23. Others are Alex Waswa Lyazi, 25, a tourist guide, and Marktom Kajubi, 23.
They appeared before Buganda Road Court Grade one magistrate Fedelis Itwau where they were formally charged with common nuisance. They however denied the charge slapped against them by the state.
Prosecution alleges that the group on October 4 at Kingdom Kampala obstructed and inconvenienced the public in the exercise of their common rights of being rowdy by blocking walkways thereby concluding to be a common nuisance.
Armed with placards inscribed with “STOP EACOP” protest messages, the students on Tuesday stormed the EU offices in Kampala with a petition to the EU envoy in Uganda but they were intercepted by police near the gate.
The arrest of these students came just a week after a group of students under their umbrella body, the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) guarded by police, marched around Kampala streets protesting the September 16 EU resolution.
They will return to court on October 11 for the hearing of their bail application.
