Police in Kalangala town council fired teargas and live ammunition to disperse angry supporters of National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
Residents of Kigerekyanvubu staged the protests following the arrest of Kyagulanyi by multitudes of soldiers deployed in the island district ahead of Kyagulanyi's campaign rallies. For the better part of Wednesday evening, police was engaged in running battles with the protestors who lit up car tyres in the middle of several tarmac roads.
Meanwhile, security officers have released four journalists who were earlier today arrested alongside Kyagulanyi and over 100 of his supporters in Kigerekyanvubu forest in Mugoye sub county, Kalangala where a roadblock was erected.
The journalists include; BBS TV's Calton Scovia Nakamya, CBS radio's Silver Ssemugenyi and Daily Monitor's Dennis Mubiru and Derrick Wandera. They were released without any formal charges.
After her release, Nakamya tweeted that "the crime I was accused of is giving updates."
The journalists were arrested and detained at Kalangala Central police station for close to two hours and only released after Kyagulanyi was safely airlifted from Kalangala to Kololo airstrip in a military chopper.
Some of the journalists have also decried mistreatment on the campaign trail by security officers in Kalangala. They include Hussein Dungu, a journalist at Radio Ssese, the only radio station in the district. Dungu says he was beaten by two military police officers at the station's main gate. He has sustained injuries on his left arm and is currently receiving medical treatment.
On Sunday, some journalists who were covering Kyagulanyi's visit in Masaka were injured by teargas canisters that were directly fired at them. Journalists and activists have condemned the continued brutality by security officers, and some journalists have now vowed to boycott security-related events until the perpetrators are punished.
Police in a statement said Kyagulanyi had not been arrested but refrained "for continuously holding massive rallies amidst the increased threats of the Coronavirus in total disregard of the Electoral Commission and ministry of Health guidelines."