The Public Order Management bill was passed
despite fierce criticism from religious leaders,
opposition MPs and the public as well as rights
groups.
Police approval will now be required if three or more
people want to gather publicly to discuss political
issues.
Supporters insist the bill is not insidious but
practical.
Amnesty says the bill is part of a pattern of
repression, pointing to the closure of two newspapers
and two radio stations in the country in May 2013 for
reporting on an alleged government plot to
assassinate opposition MPs.
The public order bill was initially proposed in 2009
and was finally passed following months of bitter
debate in and outside parliament.
It was approved by parliament, dominated by
President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance
Movement (NRM), despite protests inside the
chamber and following impassioned attempts by
opposition MPs to filibuster proceedings.
The bill gives the police discretionary powers to
veto gatherings of as few as three people in a public
place to discuss political issues. Police can also break
up meetings of three or more people discussing
political issues in their own homes.
Police must receive written notice of public meetings
seven days in advance and they may only take place
between 06:00 and 18:00.
They are entitled to turn down requests on grounds
that the venue is already being used, is considered
unsuitable or "any other reasonable cause", the bill
states.
The bill also allows police to use firearms in self-
defence, in defence of others or against those
resisting arrest.
President Museveni's supporters and police say the
bill is simply a practical measure to allow the
regulation of protests - preventing them from turning
violent, disrupting businesses, or even resulting in
deaths, reports the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in
Kampala.
It will "protect people's interests", said NRM MP
Moses Ali.
"We have as much as possible tried to accommodate
the views expressed by the opposition as well as
what the public thinks," he told news agency AFP.
Legal challenge
But critics say the bill represents an attempt by Mr
Museveni - who seized power in 1986 - to silence
dissent.
"It is a bad law which restricts freedom of speech and
expression and hinders democratic values,"
independent MP Moses Kasibante told AFP, saying it
would be challenged in the constitutional court.
"We have resolved to challenge it in the courts of law
because it is against the constitution of Uganda."
"This bill represents a serious blow to open political
debate in a country where publicly criticising the
government is already fraught with risk," said Sarah
Jackson, Amnesty International's deputy Africa
director.
"The Ugandan government must stop trying to crush
the rights to free speech and peaceful demonstration
as enshrined in its own constitution as well as
international law."
Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been arrested
numerous times in recent years for trying to organise
street protests over the cost of living.
The country has also attracted international
condemnation for draft legislation proposing
increased penalties for homosexual acts, which are
illegal in the country.