Bobi Wine rallies protests in Kampala despite blockade

Uganda's Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi popularly known as Bobi Wine on Thursday rallied Kampala residents to protest against poor road infrastructure despite being blocked by police from joining the demos.

Police surrounded Wine's home and that of veteran opposition leader Kizza Besigye and prevented them from leaving their residents ahead of the protests.

"The cowardly military and police have surrounded our home and put us under house arrest, but the protest is on. Fix our roads! Free Political Prisoners! Free Uganda!" the musician-turned-politician said on X.

Besigye also shared photos of a security barricade to his home and captioned the images saying, "Barricaded at home by the cowards! No turning back; we deserve better".

Despite not being present at the protests, Wine managed to whip a number of his supporters into holding the demonstrations.

In videos and photos posted on his X platform, the protesters are seen planting banana stems in potholed sections of a road.

"Wherever you see a pothole, plant there a banana stem, yams or anything else you can," Wine captioned some of the images.

BBC reported that police had blocked the protests saying demonstrations organised by the two opposition leaders "have never been peaceful".

It said police were wary that the protests would disrupt the 19th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Kampala.

Wine thanked Ugandans who heeded calls to demonstrate against the dilapidated state of the roads in the city "against the criminal regime's luxurious lifestyle while citizens suffer with terrible roads".