KAMPALA (AFP) – Ugandan police on Friday outlawed an anti-government protest called by opposition leader Kizza Besigye at the weekend, vowing that any demonstration will be “dealt with firmly.”

But Besigye, who has warned that Uganda is ripe for an Egyptian-style revolution, said Saturday’s demonstration would go on peacefully.

“I would like to caution any persons organising these illegal activities that as custodians of the public interest, the police shall not allow them to take place,” police chief Kale Kayihura said in a statement.

“The police shall not allow selfish and egoistically inclined persons hiding under the guise of political activism to disrupt law and order or cause fear and despondency in the public and continually threaten the peace.

“Any person found engaging in such unlawful action will be dealt with firmly within the law,” Kayihura said.

Uganda’s opposition groups have repeatedly called for protests to denounce the February 18 polls in which President Yoweri Museveni was overwhelmingly re-elected.

The opposition claim the elections were riddled with irregularities, but the police have often outlawed their planned protests.

“These are going to be peaceful demonstrations and it is within our right as citizens to demonstrate so that our voice is heard,” Besigye told AFP.

“We are not going to be intimidated. People have a cause to hold a peaceful demonstration. We are not going to be deterred.”

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