Police disrupt NUP belated women’s day celebrations in Mityana District
Police water cannon truck fires pink-coloured water to disperse NUP members in Mityana. PHOTOS/ COURTESY
What you need to know:
- A similar event attended by members of the ruling NRM in Buyende District in eastern Uganda went on smoothly
Police have disrupted belated Women’s Day celebrations in Busujju, Mityana District that had been organized by the area Members of Parliament and other local politicians.
“…Woman's Day celebration organized by our Members of Parliament in the area has been violently disrupted by trigger-happy goons in security uniform,” the National Unity Platform (NUP) principal, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine tweeted Thursday.
According to him, many guests were arrested and some injured in the ensuing commotion after the armed “brutes fired projectiles into the peaceful crowd.”
“First ask them if they notified police under section 5 of the Public Order Management Act (POMA)…,” police spokesperson SC Fred Enanga told this reporter when sought for a comment.
NRM event goes on smoothly
Meanwhile, a similar event organized in Mityana district and attended by Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba went on undisrupted.
In the eastern Uganda district of Buyende, located about 200km from Mityana another similar event went on smoothly with Buyende Woman MP, Ms Mary Nakato of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the deputy spokesperson for the office of the party (NRM) national chairman (ONC), Dr Brenda Tibamwenda as some of the key guests.
Ms Nakato, a member of the ruling NRM handed over 15 tractors from government to Buyende women groups to boost commercial agriculture in the district.
POMA
The Public Order Management Act 2013 sets out the process in which public meetings must be organised and held. Organizers have to submit a notice of and information about a meeting or assembly to the police between three and 15 days before a public meeting.
Meetings can only take place from 7am to 7pm. Members of the public need permission to enter restricted places, including Parliament, the State House, State Lodges, international airports, and the courts.
According to the Act, the police have 48 hours to respond to public meeting requests with either approval or disapproval of the public meeting.
