Students of Makerere University have pitched camp outside the university’s main administration block demanding an opportunity to visit the bodies of two of their classmates killed yesterday.

The two Kenyan students, Ignatius Nyongesa and Brian Amwoga, were killed by a security guard yesterday morning. The shooting occurred during clashes between two rival groups in the ongoing university guild campaigns at God is Able Students Hostel in Makerere Kikoni.

Early this morning a large crowd of students gathered at the university’s Freedom Square in anticipate that the bodies of their classmates would be brought for viewing. They had hoped to hold a brief funeral service and to pay their respects to the dead.

However at midday, two hours after the bodies were expected, neither the university administration nor the family of the dead men had arrived.

In anger the students marched on Mulago Hospital where the bodies are being held. The Main Library and surrounding lecture theatres were hastily closed to prevent any damage to them. Students who were not part of the demonstration were pulled in to the crowd and forced to join the mass action.

With chants of “One Way to Mulago!” the students marched through the Faculty of Economics, down to Nkuruma and Nsibirwa Halls and out through the eastern gate near Makerere Kubiri.

At the roundabout linking Mulago Road to Kalerwe, Bwaise and Makerere, a large contingent of anti-riot police stopped the procession. They fired tear gas at the crowd and several rounds of bullets in the air, pushing the students back into the university.

Once back on campus, the rioting students burned down an MTN kiosk near the library. The Fire Brigade was called in to put out the blaze before it spread. They deflated the tyres of cars along the road, looted food kiosks and uprooted a signpost for the Dean’s office. The students also attempted to erect a blockade at the administration building, but they were stopped by the police.

The Makerere Dean of Students, John Ekudu, addressed the students outside the administration building and appealed for calm.

Ekudu said he no longer hand control over when and when the bodies of the two young men could be viewed. He said matters had been taken over by the government and were now beyond the control of the university. According to him, the issue is now being handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This wasn’t enough to placate the angry students. They demanded that the parents of Ignatius Nyongesa and Brian Amwoga, be allowed to address them.

Ekudu denied their request. He said one of the parents was so grief stricken that he couldn’t even speak and couldn’t be compelled to do as the students wished.

Kenneth Massete, the Speaker of the outgoing guild council, said that ever since the government took on the case, the students have been kept in the dark about what is going on. He said that if government is afraid for the security of the university, it should provide personnel to enforce peace, but shouldn’t deny the students to pay respects to the dead.

Massete blamed infiltrators for the violence in the riots yesterday. He claimed that outsiders, whom he didn’t identify, were the ones causing the chaos and mayhem.

The Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, is expected to visit Makerere University to address the students later today.