Market vendors at Banda, Uganda, Wednesday blocked the Kampala-Jinja high way for five hours, protesting eviction from the Kawooya wetland, reported state-owned newspaper The New Vision on Thursday.

The protesters mobbed Kiira town mayor Mamerito Mugerwa and others lit a fire in the road between Banda and Kireka, some six km east of Kampala.

The vendors, estimated at 300, lit a fire with broken tables and fencing poles and threatened violence until the riot police intervened at about 9:00 a.m. (0600 GMT).

Kampala City Council, the police and environment bodies launched the eviction exercise at midnight on Tuesday, leading to protests that interrupted traffic in the morning rush hours.

The protesters said merchandise worth millions of shillings (1,700 shillings equal to one US dollar) had been destroyed by a bulldozer, which excavated soil and buried the vendors' property including bicycles and food.

Meanwhile, the newspaper quoted senior lawyer from the NationalEnvironment Management Authority Robert Wabunoha as saying they had warned the vendors to vacate the area on the grounds that Kawooya is part of Kinawataka, one of Kampala's most vital swamps.

Wabunoha said wetland reserves were being established in four of Kampala's vital swamps including Kinawataka swamp to minimize floods by draining water and purifying the water which flows into Lake Victoria.

Source: Xinhua