A section of youths has blocked highways in the Busoga sub-region paralyzing traffic flow.
The rowdy youth went about erecting barricades to block traffic from moving in either direction to avoid movement linking surrounding districts to Jinja city, as part of their ongoing protests against the skyrocketing commodity prices.
This is the second protest against commodity prices in Jinja city in less than a month.
They dumped bricks, rocks and logs in the trading centers of Namulesa, Mafubira, Wanyama, Katende, Wakitaka and Wanyange, to disrupt traffic flow from morning until midday.
They also staged major roadblocks in the areas of Mafubira along the Jinja-Kamuli highway and Bugembe along the Jinja-Iganga highway, while having face-offs with police in those two areas, as they continued lighting up tires in other minor trading centers, at first taking security operatives by surprise.
Their actions prevented both motorcyclists, drivers, and pedestrians alike from accessing the highways. They were seen pelting all the road users who declined to obey their call of joining the protest.
They claim that their protest was triggered by the social media posts rallying the country into a nationwide economic shutdown.
"Unlike leaders from other countries within the East African Community-EAC region who are seen to be offering short-term solutions to control the skyrocketing prices, not much has been done in Uganda, which largely implored me to be a part of today's protest," the youth who preferred anonymity said.
The protest later turned chaotic with a section of youths robbing valuables from members of the public under the guise of forcing them to return to their homes. They were seen beating up people while grabbing handbags from ladies and other valuables from anybody who had any.
James Mubi the Kiira regional police spokesperson says that several suspects have been arrested and are currently detained at Jinja central police station.
