Uganda Pride was almost immediately disrupted and broken up this morning by police according to reports from those attending the event.
The parade was to take place in Entebbe, by Lake Victoria in southern Uganda, which is near the major town of Kampala.
Marchers and buses, to act as floats, turned up to take part. Last week, Uganda’s minister for ethics Simon Lokodo promised there would be arrests if anyone attended.
Sometime before midday today police arrived and told the crowd to disperse.
The buses were then taken by two police escorts away from Lake Victoria, it’s believed to be taken back to Kampala.
Katie Nelson, a journalist present at the parade, said people were ‘afraid and upset’, without having been told where they were going or why.
Frustration is boiling over at #ugpride2016. Police are escorting buses on entebbe road with freq. stops. People are afraid & upset. pic.twitter.com/YICZKagNhk
— Katie G. Nelson (@katiegnelson) September 24, 2016
She says police told her they were there to ‘chase away’ Pride attendees and they had ‘orders from above’ – but didn’t specify from who.
Some of the attendees say they had already notified police and therefore weren’t breaking any laws.
There has been a report some have been arrested and sent to the police station at Kampala.
#Ugandan #LGBT‘s arrested at #UgandaPride taken #Kajjansi to #Police station@PoliceUg claim action because hadn’t been notified of event
— Omar Kuddus (@OmarKuddus) 24 September 2016
This the letter to @PoliceUg notifying them about #PrideUganda @frankmugisha @Opimva @KuchuTimes @hrapf_uganda @wenirain @Icebreakers_UG pic.twitter.com/x0VTycHD9D
— Sexual Minorities UG (@SMUG2004) September 24, 2016
A Pride event was raided in August where a number of those attending were arrested. One man sustained critical injuries after jumping out a fourth floor window. He was later treated in hospital and survived.
