The Police have obligations pertaining to public demonstrations. They have the power to regulate the direction or route if conducted on public property.  Police are authorized to stop and disperse unlawful assemblies.  The Minister has the power to declare ‘gazetted areas’ within which the gathering of more than 25 people is prohibited except with written permission from the Minister.

Police, and any person in aid of the police, are  authorized to take all action necessary to disperse unlawful assemblies in gazetted areas and apprehend participants if the assembly continues after a senior police officer has ordered its abatement (Sections 35-36, Police Act 1994).  More recently Statutory Instrument Number 53 prevents any demonstration taking place in business district areas.

However, the application of these powers in the face of the lack of the police’s capacity to manage public order has exacerbated conflict and violence and done little to achieve the constitutional imperative of the right of all persons to peaceful and unarmed assembly or demonstration as a form of expression

(See for example Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, “Electoral Reforms in Uganda,” 2008, Hurinet-Study on Human Rights Violations during the 10-13 September 2009 Kampala riots; Human Rights Watch, “Preparing for the Polls, Improving accountability for electoral violence in Uganda,” 2009).