20110418
reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan soldiers and police fired teargas to disperse thousands demonstrating against the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on Monday who was charged with inciting violence in protests over price rises.

Plainclothes officers detained Besigye, President Yoweri Museveni's closest rival in February elections, on a road outside his house as he left to join a demonstration.

Besigye, his right hand heavily bandaged following an injury sustained in the second protest last Thursday, was loaded on to a pick-up truck and taken to a police station for interrogation before his court appearance.

Soldiers joined police patrolling the streets of the capital Kampala armed with guns and batons. They fired tear gas to disperse crowds that gathered to march and a crowd of about 3,000 people outside the police station where Besigye was held.

"I will walk again on Thursday, no one has said what I'm doing is wrong," he said during his court appearance.

"This court is being used to harass and persecute me ... the court is using the police to abuse my rights."

The court freed Besigye on bail after also charging him with engaging in riotous behaviour. Besigye was already on bail after he was charged with inciting unrest during the first "walk to work" protest last Monday.

Museveni, in power since 1986, has warned he would not allow Besigye to lead the protests, and blamed drought for reduced food production and higher global oil prices for increased transport costs.