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Uganda’s forthcoming elections threatened by violent clashes

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Top presidential candidate and main opposition leader Kizza Besigye who heads the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party was detained briefly days before general elections in Uganda with scores of supporters coming out to show support for the politician.

Besigye was detained for a second time in a day as he tried to hold campaign rallies sparking a clash between police and rival supporters with one person reportedly killed in the violence that rocked Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

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According to eyewitnesses, police fired bullets and tear gas while opposition supporters replied hurling rocks and erected street barricade in clashes that left several people injured.

The police while giving reason for his arrest said Besigye was detained briefly because/span> he did not stick to authorised route adding that his rally caused diversion and disrupted businesses.

“Police can confirm one person died during the confusion today,” Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango told the AFP news agency, without giving further details.

Opposition politicians told AFP that three people had been shot dead, but the claims could not be independently verified.

FDC spokesman Semujju Nganda said “several” supporters were injured during scuffles with police.

“We protest in the strongest terms police brutality towards our supporters and targeting our candidate,” he said.

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