By The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has sharply criticised the Uganda Police Force for deploying police dogs during the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential campaign rally in Kawempe on 24 November, calling the action a grave violation of citizens’ rights.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, ULS said video footage and eyewitness accounts confirmed the presence of police dogs, alongside heavy security deployment, tear gas, violent crowd dispersal and forceful arrests of civilians. The Law Society described the conduct as an “unacceptable breach” of the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
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ULS noted that the use of police dogs at political events evokes a troubling historical pattern. It drew parallels with apartheid-era South Africa and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, where state agencies used dogs to intimidate, dehumanise and suppress Black communities. Such tactics, ULS said, amount to weaponising animals to enforce political control.
According to the statement, the Police Canine Unit is designed for specialised crime-scene investigation, explosive detection, narcotics tracking and search-and-rescue missions not crowd control or political management. Deploying dogs at a political rally, ULS argued, serves only to instill fear and exert force.
The Law Society also expressed concern over reports of indiscriminate arrests around Kawempe, saying several people taken into custody were not part of the rally but were merely passing through the area. ULS warned that such actions erode public trust and undermine constitutional guarantees to liberty and due process.
The organisation demanded an immediate halt to the use of police dogs at any political activity, the release of all civilians arrested arbitrarily during the incident and strict adherence to constitutional policing standards that respect human dignity.
ULS questioned what the deployment of such intimidation tactics signals about the rule of law in Uganda, emphasising that a democratic state cannot permit security agencies to use “living creatures as instruments of political coercion.”
The Law Society reaffirmed its commitment to defending freedoms of association and peaceful assembly and pledged to continue advocating for the protection of citizens’ rights.
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