Uganda police quash tax protest

KAMPALA: The police in Uganda fired tear gas yesterday to disperse a small crowd of protesters demonstrating against new taxes, including a levy on access to social media platforms, a police spokesman said.

Starting with the 2018/19 financial year, the government introduced several new taxes and hiked existing ones to try to increase government revenue and finance public infrastructure.

A crowd of about 200 people wearing red T-shirts and shouting “Power! Power” as they marched through downtown Kampala was dispersed after the police tried to arrest an independent lawmaker critical of President Yoweri Museveni, a witness said.

Patrick Onyango, deputy spokesperson for the police, said, “we used tear gas to disperse their illegal demonstration and we have also arrested three protesters”.

Onyango said the demonstrators failed to seek police clearance for the protest.

Ugandan public order management law requires protest organisers to seek police permission, which is often denied.

Two of the new taxes have stoked widespread outrage from telecom firms’ customers.– Reuters