Police in the Ugandan city of Jinja have arrested eight Arsenal fans for celebrating the club’s win over Manchester United in the English Premier League on Sunday.
In the pulsating encounter, Mikel Arteta’s wards pulled off a 3-2 victory over United to open up a six-point gap at the top of the league table.
Like their counterparts all over the world, some Arsenal fans in the Ugandan city celebrated their favourite club’s victory.
The fans wore the club’s red and white jersey and carried a symbolic trophy as they held a procession in celebration.
However, police said they did not have a permit to hold the procession which is a public order offence.
The Arsenal fans were travelling in a convoy of five vehicles on Monday morning when they were intercepted by police. One of them was carrying a trophy they had bought at a local store.
“I don’t know what we have done but we were simply celebrating our victory over rivals Manchester United,” Arsenal fan Baker Kasule is quoted as saying by the local Daily Monitor news site.
James Mubi, the regional police boss and a self-declared Arsenal fan, told the BBC he had not reviewed the fans’ charges but wondered why they were celebrating when only half of the matches in the season had been played.