Police has said a group of politicians and other activists are believed to have masterminded the demonstrations that rocked Makerere University last week.
The Ivory Tower last week experienced a nasty four-day protest against the 15 percent cumulative tuition policy approved by the university council last year as students protested against the move.
Addressing journalists during the weekly press briefing on Monday, Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said as the protest started out on Monday by female students, it was a bit peaceful but noted it turned rowdy in later stages.
“The following day, the protest turned violent as the male students joined their female counterparts. What is interesting is that we are getting to learn that there appears to be a force rolling out strikes in universities,”Enanga said.
“There is an element of a political party or activists behind the protests.”
The protests that started on Tuesday turned rowdy as they entered the second day, prompting the military to swing into action to calm the situation.
The police spokesperson on Monday said intelligence information security got indicates that a group of political activists have instigated similar demonstrations at Kyambogo University and were planning the same at Makerere University Business School in Nakawa for political reasons.
Non Students involved
Security, especially the military was last week bashed for launching an onslaught on students in their halls of residence.
In videos that circulated on social media, soldiers were seen breaking into halls of residence and flogging students.
However, to justify the security assertion of involvement of political actors in the strike, the police spokesperson said they had in a joint operation arrested 31 students from halls of residence but found non-students.
“We realized there was infiltration, of non-students and in the halls of residence. Seven of the 31 students we got from the halls instigating the demonstration were non-students,”Enanga said.
He noted that some of the people arrested were shop attendants, chapatti makers and other people who had joined the strike.
“In Mitchel Hall, we arrested one Polly Bandola, a former chairman of the hall but completed studies but was found with a jerrican of petrol, shisha pots and other drugs . There appears to be a calculated move involved in acts of activism but also to roll it out in other public universities,”Enanga said.
He revealed that there is a mobile money point that security had unearthed that was allegedly being used to fund the demonstrations.
“They were posting fake propaganda videos on social media to fuel violence but we have taken interest in all this to find out the people behind the demonstrations.”