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Things that make us grateful that we live in America:
Ugandan police interrupted a human rights training session on Monday, claiming that it was an illegal assembly. Advocates say the workshop was legal, but that they were targeted because they were training gay rights activists.
More after the jump.
The assembly was organized by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project. The three-day workshop was intended to train local gay activists on the proper way to report human rights abuses.
Voice of America reports that the assembly, held at a hotel outside of Kampala, was broken up by more than two dozen Ugandan officers, some of whom were wearing riot gear.
Most of the Ugandan participants, presumably fearing for their safety, fled the hotel. The police detained and questioned participants from Canada, Kenya, and Rwanda. All were released.
According to Sari Naskinen, the deputy director of East and Horn, the raid began halfway through the first day of the three-day workshop after members of the media threatened to call police if they weren't allowed to interview participants.
Naskinen claims that some of the participants were manhandled.
A similar incident occurred in February, when Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo led the police in a raid of a gay rights meeting in Entebbe.
Members of parliament and other leaders continue to push for the passage of the "Kill The Gays" bill, that would effectively make homosexual acts punishable by death or life imprisonment.
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