More than a dozen Ugandan journalists were reportedly assaulted and had their equipment vandalized Thursday by security agents deployed to control anti-government protests called by the leader of Uganda’s opposition National Unity Platform Party.

Police said the journalists were disrupting their operations at Entebbe International Airport, where opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi was arriving from the U.S. 

Before his return, Kyagulanyi, who goes by the stage name Bobi Wine, had called on Ugandans to join him in what the NUP called the One Million March.

In response, several security checkpoints were set up along roads heading to the airport and to Wine’s home, where the politician told reporters he had been placed under house arrest.

‘It was very humiliating’

Wine narrated his ordeal to journalists:

“As soon as I landed, goons grabbed me and dragged me, twisted my hands and bundled me into a waiting private car. They drove me to the old airport, where they pulled me out and then put me in a military car with many soldiers and police officers. It was very humiliating, it was very uncomfortable, but I am glad I reached here.”

Journalists were not allowed at the airport, and those who were stopped by security were taken to the Entebbe central police station, where they were held for close to four hours.

Jengo Eriah, a videographer for a local television station, said that “the SFC [Special Forces Command] guys and military guys just came and started pulling our reporters. They pulled me out of the car, actually through the window, even without asking me anything. I was beaten. My camera was destroyed, my phone. I have wounds on my back, the arm. I got bruises everywhere.”

Robert Sempala, national coordinator of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, said his group had engaged security on the safety of journalists covering the event.

“The charges remain extremely unclear, and their gadgets have not been returned to them,” Sempala said. “They are saying they are going to first have to look into the content that was on those gadgets, which is another violation. Various reports [are] saying that the military, hooded and disguised in masks, was at the helm of this operation.”

Spokesperson points to police

Sempala said the special forces usurped police powers and took charge of public order.

However, Special Forces Command spokesperson Jimmy Omara told VOA he was not aware of any such event.

“What I am sure about is that that was a police-led operation,” he said. “Do they have any of our soldiers in uniform, in our attire, SFC? Because even me, I was watching from the screen. What I could only see [were] police uniforms.”

Police said in a statement that 14 journalists had been arrested because of challenges in identification from the crowd and had been briefly taken to Entebbe police holding cells.

Police acknowledged that some journalists might have been subjected to physical harm, and they said they were committed to identifying them and conducting a thorough investigation.

Before his departure to the United States, Wine was on a countrywide tour that was stopped by police, who said he could be a target for terrorists. It was not clear whether Wine would resume the tour, which had attracted thousands on the streets.
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