Kampala: An image of a newly-appointed police spokesperson in Uganda hitting a news reporter with a catapult for asking irrelevant questions has gone viral on social media. The image shows the cop with a catapult aiming at journalist in the press conference. Several microphones were seen placed in front of him as he prepared to release the spring of the catapult.
“Newly appointed Uganda police spokesman hits news reporter with a caterpult for asking irrelevant question [sic],” one Twitter user wrote while sharing the pic on the microblogging platform, where it has racked up over 25,000 ‘likes’ and nearly 10,000 ‘retweets’.
Many users shared the picture with similar captions.
Truth Behind Cop With Catapult
So did the police attacked the Journalist for real? Or is it a misleading story?
It is a false claim. No police spokesperson in Uganda hit any journalist with a catapult.
According to Uganda Radio Network report the image is from last year, when the police men recovered a consignment of dangerous catapults in Kampala. At that time the police spokesperson Fred Enanga was cautioning against the dangers of catapults in a press briefing.
The image is originally of a press briefing in 2021, and not from a recent one. The Uganda Police has confirmed too.
When Kenyan advocate Ahmednasir Abdullahi tried to take a dig at Uganda Police by sharing the image with the false claim, the official Twitter handle of the police department was quick to label it as “fake news”.
Abdullahi deleted his tweet after being called out for sharing false information.
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