Color In the Midst of Protest

2 minute read

We’re used to protest movements that come in colors—the yellow of people power in the Philippines, Ukraine’s orange, the green of Iran’s brutalized democrats. We’re less accustomed to seeing protests quashed with color. But in Uganda, security forces sprayed opposition leaders and activists with a vivid pink dye—a mark intended both to humiliate dissidents and make it easier for police to nab them.

The pink crackdown comes after weeks of disturbances in the capital Kampala as opposition groups participate in what have been called “walk to work” protests, fueled by rising food prices and growing exasperation with the 25-year-old rule of President Yoweri Museveni. The government banned public demonstrations so even an act as mundane as trudging to one’s office now faces the wrath of the repressive arm of the state — or at least the threat of being drowned in pink murk. More than a dozen people have been killed and scores injured.

The tactic of targeting protesters with colored water was deployed infamously by South Africa’s apartheid state in September 1989 when thousands of anti-apartheid demonstrators in Cape Town were hosed with purple spray. The action backfired, though, as protesters briefly wrested control of the water cannon shooting the dye and aimed it at the headquarters of the ruling National Party. The famous “Purple Rain” protest joined the ranks of other epic moments of resistance to the apartheid state. But it hasn’t stopped other governments from following suit: amid their long-running struggle for control over the restive Kashmir valley, Indian security forces targeted demonstrators in the capital Srinagar, seeking to soak them first and arrest them later. In recent years, dissenters from Israel to Indonesia to Hungary have been met by relentless waves of orange and blue. But, as casualties rise in Uganda and elsewhere, the true color of the protests is always a deep blood-red.

Ishaan Tharoor is a writer-reporter at TIME and editor of the Global Spin blog.

Ugandan opposition politician Olara Otunnu is shielded by his supporters during an attack with water cannon by Ugandan police after he refused to stop his protest march through central Kampala, May 10, 2011.Marc Hofer—AFP/Getty Images
Indian policemen fire purple colored water from a water cannon on Kashmir government employees during a protest on April 06, 2011 in Srinagar. Yawar Nazir—Getty Images
Demonstrators are sprayed with a water cannon by Israeli border police during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the outskirts of the village of Bil'in, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, August. 18, 2006.Nasser Shiyoukhi—AP
Riot policemen use water cannons to disperse thousands of protestors during a demonstration, October 23, 2006, in central Budapest, as Hungary commemorates the 50th anniversary of its 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.Joe Klamar—AFP
Police shoot water cannons as Jammu Kashmir state government employees shout anti government slogans during a protest outside the civil secretariat in Srinagar, India, May, 5, 2008.Dar Yasin—AP
A Palestinian protester runs as colored water is sprayed by the Israeli army from a water cannon during the weekly demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 11, 2011.Abbas Momani—AFP
Police use a water cannon during a demonstration on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 5, 2011.Shuvo Das—Demotix/Corbis
A Jammu Kashmir state government employee runs for cover as police use colored water cannons during a protest outside the civil secretariat in Srinagar, India, May, 5, 2008. The employees were demanding regularization of their jobs and a hike in their pay. Dar Yasin—AP
Palestinians gather for a weekly demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the village of Bilin, March 11, 2011.Issam Rimawi—Apaimages/Polaris
Riot police fire water cannons towards protesters during a rally against U.S. President George W. Bush's visit on August 5, 2008, in Seoul, South Korea.Chung Sung-Jun—Getty Images
Indian police use a water cannon and batons against Kashmiri government employees in Srinagar on June 12, 2008.Tauseef Mustafa—AFP
Police use colored water cannon to disperse Hindu protestors at a victory rally in Jammu, India, August 31, 2008. Channi Anand—AP
A man holding a Palestinian flag is sprayed by Israeli police during a protest in the West Bank village of Bilin, August 18, 2006.Abbas Momani—AFP/Getty Images

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