Ugandan police say they are taking measures to prevent mass protests in the capital Kampala, a day after President Yoweri Museveni warned organisers that they were ''playing with fire''.
Ugandan police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said on Monday that the force was seeking to dissuade protest organisers from taking "what we see as a potentially anarchic approach."
Young people have been mobilising through social media calling for anti-corruption protests on Tuesday. The authorities had already announced a ban on the planned march.
Meanwhile, Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine says security forces have surrounded his party headquarters on Monday, on the eve of the planned anti-corruption march that has been banned by the authorities.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, told AFP news agency that the headquarters of his National Unity Platform (NUP) in Kavule, a suburb of the Ugandan capital Kampala, was besieged.
"Our headquarters are under siege by heavily armed police and the military. This was expected by the regime, but we are not giving up on the struggle to liberate Uganda," he said.
Clash with authorities
Wine is a musician turned politician who challenged Museveni unsuccessfully in the last elections in 2021.
"We want a country where we all belong, not for the few in power,'' Bobi Wine said.
On Saturday, Ugandan police said they had informed organisers that they would not permit Tuesday's march, which has been organised on social media by young Ugandans with the hashtag #StopCorruption.
"Some elements have been planning illegal demonstrations, riots," Museveni said in a televised address later that day.
The anti-graft movement in Uganda has taken inspiration from anti-government demonstrations that have shaken neighbouring Kenya for more than a month, led largely by young Gen-Z Kenyans.
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