Police shoot Ugandan politician

Military police officers shot Uganda’s top opposition politician in the arm and fired tear gas into a hospital as demonstrations against rising fuel and food prices broke out across the country.

The opposition politician, Kizza Besigye, was walking to work to protest at high petrol prices.

A spokeswoman for the Ugandan Red Cross, Catherine Ntabadde, said Besigye was hit by a bullet that was fired by military police as they tried to disperse the crowd of supporters around Besigye.

Ntabadde said she did not know if it was a rubber bullet or a real one.

“Military police coming from Kampala confronted the crowd,” she said. “They could have shot him accidentally. We took him to hospital for treatment.”

A police spokeswoman, Judith Nabakooba, confirmed that Besigye has been shot at. She said the police were investigating.

The skirmish broke out after police surrounded Besigye. Ugandan youths then allegedly began harassing the police.

Some demonstrators sought shelter in a nearby hospital, from where police officer Ronald Okello said the demonstrators threw rocks at authorities. Okello said police then fired tear gas.

A hospital worker in the town of Kasangati, just outside Uganda’s capital of Kampala, said patients were affected and that some mothers moved sick children from their beds to get away from the gas.

The worker, Mary Nabu, wiped tears from her eyes from the gas as she spoke.

Besigye was arrested on Monday, along with several members of parliament, during a similar march to protest at high fuel and food prices. The police called it an illegal demonstration. He was taken away by authorities again today.

Besigye is Uganda’s top opposition politician. He took second place in Uganda’s February presidential election to President Yoweri Museveni.