Uganda police apologise for Bobi Wine arrest, mass shooting

Uganda police say they regret recent altercation that lead to some of them firing live bullets that killed more than 50 people during the demonstration against the arrest of Robert Kyagulanyi, Bobi Wine.

The director of Police in charge of operations, Mr Edward Ochom, said passed the apology noted that the firing of live bullets to disperse crowds was uncalled for, saying that police officers could have used teargas instead.

“The circumstances under which we lost those lives is really regrettable and it would have been avoided if our officers had used teargas to disperse the protesters. However, there is a scientific investigation going on to establish which guns fired the live bullets and I can assure you those officers who did will be individually held accountable,” he said.

Wine whose real is Robert Kyagulanyi was arrested in eastern Uganda November 18 morning for allegedly contravening electoral guidelines which require candidates not to have more than 200 supporters at a rally so as to curb the spread of COVID-19 according to Police.

The police defended their action by claiming that the opposition were in the breech of laid down measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

He was later released.

Bobi Wine, 38, and a pop star-turned-politician, is seen by many as the new face of Uganda's opposition. But he faces an uphill task in his country's politics particularly since expressing his intention to bring to an end the long running rule of 76 year old President Yoweri Museveni.