Afterward, they fired tear gas and live ammunition into the air as warning shots, as well as detonating stun grenades.
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Mr Besigye’s supporters said the delays were deliberate and were aimed at favouring Mr Museveni, whose rival is popular in Kampala. Police officials said the candidate was arrested because his route posed a security risk and had not been negotiated ahead of time. Other contenders, who have been in the race since November previous year, include Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Amama Mbabazi, Abed Bwanika, Benon Biraaro, Maureen Kyalya, Venencious Baryamureeba and Joseph Mabirizi. Angry protesters also built barricades of stones on the highway leading to the global airport.
Elections in 2006 and 2011 were marred by violent, and occasionally deadly, street protests and the liberal use of tear gas by heavy-handed police.
The election was marked by delays in the delivery of voting materials, especially in areas seen as opposition strongholds.
Voting in most polling stations closed at 4 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) but was extended to 7 p.m.in some districts due to delays, the electoral commission said.
The government had shut down social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook but many Ugandans were circumventing that by using virtual private networks, or VPNs.
Mr Museveni said the shutdown of social media sites “must be steps taken by security” in anticipation of certain threats.
Besigye was arrested at a house he suspected to be used as an illegal vote counting center managed by the ruling party, National Resistance Movement, (NRM) and the police in Naguru, a district of the North of Kampala, according to his party. Police said the house was a security facility and accused Besigye of trespassing on government property.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from the capital Kampala on Thursday, said police detained Kizza Besigya, a presidential candidate, as he and his supporters tried to show reporters what he called a vote-rigging operation.
A winning candidate needs 50 percent or more of the vote to avoid a runoff election with the candidate receiving the second-most votes. Besigye has yet to release a statement in relation to the incident.
“Such a day is highly undermined by the lack of free and fair elections”, Besigye, 59, told reporters in the village of Rukungiri in western Uganda. Final results are expected Saturday.
Millions of Ugandans are going to the polls on Thursday in presidential, parliamentary and local elections.
He said those who get back on Twitter, for example, have “the feeling that you have overpowered the mighty state”.
Seventy-one-year-old Museveni, an ex-rebel fighter who seized power in 1986, is widely predicted to win a fifth term in office. He is a staunch USA ally, and Ugandan soldiers lead an African Union peacekeeping force against Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
As people voted, young men on motorcycles who appeared to support Besigye looked on from a distance, saying they wanted to make sure there was no ballot- stuffing.
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Mr Besigye was Mr Museveni’s personal physician during a bush war and served as deputy interior minister in Mr Museveni’s first Cabinet. Police and the army closely controlled the avalanche of negative messages campaigning against current president Yoweri Museveni.
