Uganda opposition leader Bobi Wine to sue police after injury

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine said on Friday his party planned to sue police after he was injured in a confrontation with officers earlier this week.

Wine, a vociferous critic of Uganda’s iron-fisted President Yoweri Museveni, said he was hit by a tear gas canister thrown by police during the fracas on Tuesday.

Initially, Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) said the 42-year-old, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, had been shot in the leg, while police said he had stumbled and injured himself.

“We are going to sue these criminal police officers,” Wine said at a press conference at his residence in Magere outside the capital Kampala.

“I’m a very very lucky man,” he said after walking into the event on crutches, describing it as the fourth “assassination attempt” against him.

He said a police officer had sprayed tear gas through the open roof of their vehicle as he and party members left a meeting in the town of Bulindo, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Kampala.

“When I stepped out of the car, one of the commanders ordered ‘shoot him’, pointing at me. He pulled out a pistol,” he said.

“He went around our car and grabbed a tear gas canister from another officer and threw it at me. The canister exploded on my foot and injured my leg.”

Wine was released from hospital on Wednesday after undergoing surgery for his injury.

The popstar-turned-politician and his NUP have long been a thorn in Museveni’s side.

Wine, who challenged the veteran leader in the 2021 election, has been detained or put under house arrest numerous times and party rallies have been violently dispersed.

After Tuesday’s incident, the US State Department said it was concerned that the “democratic space continues to shrink” in Uganda.

The UN Human Rights Office also said it was worried by reports of “unnecessary use of force by police” and urged that freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly be respected.

Uganda goes to the polls in January 2026, five years after the septuagenarian Museveni was re-elected for a sixth term.

The opposition denounced the 2021 vote as a sham, following a campaign marked by intimidation, opposition arrests and violence.