Naked anti-graft protesters arrested

KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) — Ugandan police arrested three semi-naked protesters in the capital Kampala on Monday as they marched against corruption in the East African nation, their lawyer said.

The women, who belong to a civil society organization known as the “Uganda Freedom Activists” linked to the youth-led anti-government demonstrations earlier this year, were detained as they walked towards parliament.

“Save the women, save the children, save the future and end corruption,” shouted the women who had “no corruption” painted on their bodies, according to witnesses and images online.

“Uganda is not poor, they are stealing our wealth,” read one placard.

One woman had “Kiteezi was preventable” daubed across her back, a reference to a huge rubbish tip landslide in Kampala in August that killed several dozen people including children.

“There were three young ladies protesting against corruption and they were arrested and now detained at Kampala Central Police station,” the women’s lawyer Eron Kiiza told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Kiiza said among those detained was law student Praise Aloikin Opoloje, who had been among those heading Gen-Z-led protests in Uganda in July that were inspired by widespread anti-government demonstrations in neighboring Kenya.

The three later appeared in court where they were remanded to the Luzira high security prison and ordered to appear in court on 12 September, according to the charge sheet seen by AFP and confirmed by their lawyer.

They were charged with making an unauthorized public procession “while half-naked and with writing on their bodies,” and causing “annoyance or obstruction or inconvenience to the public in exercise of common rights.”