Police firing tear gas stormed the offices of opposition presidential hopeful Kizza Besigye on February 19, reporters outside the complex said. Employees inside the office said they were lying on the floor as police moved “further into the building,” while “firing tear gas directly into the office.”

The police operation came a day after voters went to the polls across Uganda. Al Jazeera said it witnessed police detaining Besigye on February 18 “as he and his supporters tried to show journalists what they said was a vote-rigging operation in a suburban house.”

Tempers flared in