An ongoing march to parliament organized by young people over corruption in the Uganda government led to the arrests of protestors on Tuesday. Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of the parliamentary opposition, also alleged in a Ugandan parliament speech that police have used excessive force against protestors. The Associated Press (AP) has reported a heavy police and military presence around the capital.

Police banned the march to parliament on Monday, citing the risk of “disturbances to public order”. According to AP, President Yoweri Museveni stated that protestors were “playing with fire”.

On Monday, the police blocked off and raided the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters and arrested several party members, including Deputy President for the Northern region Dr. Lina Zedriga Waru, and members of parliament Zaake Francis, Charles Tebandeke and Hassan Kirumira. The NUP claims that the arrests are illegal since police have yet to “issue a legally valid statement justifying” the arrests. MP Zaake Francis was allegedly charged with a traffic offence, while the other MPs were allegedly charged with unlawful assembly.

The NUP did not organize the march to parliament, but the party has been publicly supportive of it.

The protests have been organized on social media in a completely decentralized manner. This method of organizing demonstrations was utilized in Kenya in June, in which the country’s youth led a “leaderless, tribeless digital activism” protest movement that was “not linked with any specific political movement or party.” This style of activism has sparked similar movements across Africa.

The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in the Constitution of Uganda, and has been cited by the parliamentary opposition in criticizing the state’s response to the demonstrations.