Uganda: 16 dead in protests in support of opposition leader

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Police said today, Thursday, that the death toll during protests in Uganda over the arrest of opposition leader and presidential candidate Bobby Wayne has risen to 16, as demonstrations continue for a second day in the country’s biggest unrest in a decade.

At least 65 people were injured in protests that broke out in different parts of the African country on Wednesday.

“Some of them are really bad,” said Patrick Onyango, a Kampala police spokesman. Police did not say if any of the dead were the result of the plane crash on Thursday.

The spokesman pointed out that 350 people were arrested in the capital. Police and the army were deployed, while the demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires.

Police accuse Wayne of violating coronavirus guidelines, which require presidential candidates to speak to no more than 200 people.

Wayne, the musician who has been arrested several times in recent years, has drawn many in Uganda through his constant calls for the resignation of President Yoweri Museveni after 36 years in power. The elections will be held early next year.

According to a United Nations warning, seen by The Associated Press, the situation remained volatile, with groups of youths involved in clashes with police in major cities around the capital, while calm prevailed in the rest of the country.

The ad cited “disorganized crowds, bullets and tear gas”.

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