UGANDA: Police Raid LGBT Meeting

Ugandan police today raided an international LGBT rights meeting and questioned the attendees. In addition to local activists, the meeting was attended by representatives of Canada, Kenya, and Rwanda. The event was organized by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project. (Website)

The police forced their way into some of the activists' hotel rooms, the group said. The training workshop was intended to bolster the local gay community's abilities to report rights abuses. Activists condemned the police action and said it represented a growing trend. "This ludicrous and senseless harassment of human rights activists has no basis in law whatsoever and has to stop," Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International's deputy director for Africa, said. "We are seeing a worrying pattern emerging whereby the Ugandan authorities engage in arbitrary activities deliberately designed to intimidate and threaten legitimate human rights work," Ms Kagari said.

RELATED: In February Uganda's Minister of Ethics had police raid and shut down a secretly organized LGBT rights meeting. The event's organizer narrowly escaped arrest.