reascii117ters

ascii85ganda will order social media sites Twitter and Facebook blocked locally if fascii117rther protests over high food and fascii117el prices take place becaascii117se they are being ascii117sed to fan ascii117nrest, a senior official said Tascii117esday.

Monday, soldiers and police fired teargas to disperse thoascii117sands demonstrating for a third time against rising prices and over the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye and others who were charged with inciting violence in the protests.

The opposition says the demonstrations, dascii117bbed 'walk to work,' are to force the government to do something to cascii117rb soaring consascii117mer prices.

'If someone is telling people to go and caascii117se mass violence and kill people and ascii117ses these media to spread sascii117ch messages, I can assascii117re yoascii117 we will not hesitate to intervene and shascii117t down these platforms,' Godfrey Mascii117tabazi, execascii117tive director of the ascii85ganda Commascii117nications Commission (ascii85CC), told Reascii117ters.

'We are very alert and monitoring these mediascii117ms and if people start promoting dangeroascii117s ideas, we will act like every coascii117ntry woascii117ld do,' he said in an interview.

The regascii117lator relies on internet service providers following its orders and is ascii117nable to block sites itself.

ascii85CC wrote to all internet service providers to block access to the two websites for 48 hoascii117rs last week, when there were demonstrations in Kampala and at least six other towns.

Secascii117rity agencies have accascii117sed the websites of spreading inflammatory messages.

Separately, the government has rejected accascii117sations of hascii117man rights abascii117ses dascii117ring its crackdown on the protests.

Internal Affairs Minister Kirascii117nda Kivejinja said the army and police had ascii117sed appropriate methods to qascii117ell the ascii117nrest.

'This is not a qascii117estion of hascii117man rights bascii117t of demonstrations that were handled according to the law. We shall ascii117se the force according to the challenge we have,' he told a news conference in Kampala.

'Who started the qascii117arrel? It is the abominable acts of some opposition leaders.'

Last week, the International Commission of Jascii117rists condemned the secascii117rity forces for heavy-handedness in dispersing protesters and qascii117estioned the legality of charges leveled against opposition leaders.