Uganda's Bobi Wine recovers from police attack

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was injured in the leg in an altercation with a police officer, but his party says he is currently recovering in hospital.

The National Unity Platform (NUP) said the pop star-turned-politician was hit by a tear gas grenade; it was initially believed his wound was caused by a bullet.

The incident occurred when the NUP chairman was on his way to meet his lawyers in Bulindo, about 20 kilometers north of the capital Kampala, on Tuesday.

A police statement said officers at the scene reported that the opposition leader stumbled while getting into his vehicle.

Earlier, the X-account of Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was the first to break the news, saying: “@HEBobiwine was shot in the leg by police in Bulindo.”

The footage was shared on social media by journalist Solomon Serwanjja, who was on site. It shows the 42-year-old opposition leader being rescued from a building with a bleeding injury to his left shin.

NUP spokesman Joel Ssenyonyi later said X-rays showed that “some fragments of a tear gas grenade were lodged in Bobi Wine’s leg.”

An investigation will be launched to clarify the matter, police said in a statement.

The NUP chairman will have to undergo surgery to remove the fragments, medical experts at Nsambya Hospital in Kampala told journalists.

Police said Bobi Wine attended an event in Bulindo and then “got out of their cars with his team and set off on a procession to Bulindo town.”

“However, the police advised him not to do so. Despite their instructions, he insisted on proceeding… and blocked the road, which led to police intervention to prevent the procession.

“He is said to have sustained injuries during the ensuing altercation,” the statement said.

At least four NUP members were arrested during the clashes, the party said.

Veteran opposition politician Kizza Besigye condemned the “terrible consequences” of what he described as “standard police aggression against the political opposition.”

Bobi Wine was first elected to parliament in 2017 and ran against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 elections, which were marred by state repression.

He is popular among young people and has often been arrested – and beaten up.

The country's security forces have long pursued political opponents of President Museveni, who has been in power for nearly 40 years.

Additional reporting by BBC's Swaibu Ibrahim in Kampala.