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Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine reported on Saturday that he had been assaulted at a campaign rally in the northern city of Gulu, with 18 of his supporters injured ahead of the country’s national elections in January.
The singer-turned-politician, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, accused soldiers and police of targeting him and his followers in what he described as a systematic attack against his presidential campaign.
Wine said he was struck in the face while supporters formed a protective circle around him.
“Without the people around me, who were beaten with sticks and gun butts, I would have sustained serious injuries or even been killed,” Wine told AFP. Six of his injured supporters were hospitalised following the clash.
Footage shared on Wine’s official X account showed armed officers assaulting rally-goers with sticks, and other images depicted at least one man bleeding from a head wound.
This incident comes just weeks after police opened fire at a rally in eastern Uganda, leaving one person dead and three others wounded.
Wine, 43, has faced repeated arrests and claims of torture in police and military custody since losing to President Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 elections, which were widely criticised for irregularities and violent suppression.
Museveni’s son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who also commands the Ugandan army, has publicly threatened Wine on social media.
President Museveni, 81, is campaigning to extend his 40-year rule, promoting his record of national liberation in the 1980s and pledging to drive Uganda towards high middle-income status.
Critics, however, accuse him of growing authoritarianism, while roughly one in six Ugandans continues to live in poverty.
