Ugandan police use pink dye to break up opposition demoBy ISAAC KASAMANI and EPHRAIM KASOZI in Kampala | Wednesday, August 17  2011 at  18:38

Uganda police sprinkled pink dye using their water cannon on opposition members as their attempt to re-enact the April walk-to-work protests was broken up.

The Activists for Change (A4C) members, who included the leader of the opposition in the Ugandan parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, were blocked from holding a rally at a taxi park near Kampala.

They instead relocated to a playfield nearby.

A brief confrontation punctuated with firing of teargas and live bullets followed after an hour despite the police accepting the A4C members could hold their rally.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said that the rally would go on but they couldn’t accept it to disrupt people’s businesses or the flow of traffic.

“They accepted to relocate the rally but just a few hours later, they wanted to go back to the first venue,” Mr Ssenkumbi said.

The A4C group said they wanted to hold their rally at the taxi park in memory of the people who were killed in the April walk-to-work demonstrations.

On Tuesday night, the police confiscated a public address system the activists planned to use.

Mr Ssenkumbi said that the A4C members were using it to incite members of the public. Five of the activists were also detained.

Dr Kizza Besigye, the leader of the April walk-to-work protests who is Uganda’s most prominent opposition figure, had been expected to arrive and address the A4C rally.

His home in Kampala remained under heavy police surveillance.