Ugandan police break up opposition rally
Ugandan police fired water cannons, tear gas and pink dye at opposition leaders and their supporters Wednesday to break up a rally in memory of 10 people killed in a crackdown on protests in April.
They later allowed the rally to go ahead in a different part of the capital, where opposition politicians addressed several hundred people as they remembered those killed in the "walk-to-work" protests over living costs.
"We had a rally to remember the people who died during the walk-to-work protests, and also about the current economic situation in the country," opposition lawmaker Nandala Mafabi told AFP.
Police said they dispersed the earlier gathering after opposition lawmakers broke an agreement over its location.
"This was in breech of an agreement that we had come to, not to hold the meeting in a place that is small and not in the middle of businesses," police spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said.
Hundreds of people joined the April protests by walking to work in the mornings, leading to a brutal police crackdown in which at least 10 people were killed.
Opposition politicians vowed this month to resume their protest campaign against rising food and fuel costs.
Inflation in Uganda soared to 18.7 percent this year, with government blaming rising costs on high international oil prices and drought, and refusing to cut taxes on fuel.
