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No, Ugandan police spokesperson didn’t ‘hit a journalist’ with a catapult for ‘asking irrelevant question’

A photo of Ugandan police spokesperson Fred Enanga aiming a catapult is circulating on Facebook in March 2022 with the claim that he “hit a journalist” with the weapon.

“Newly appointed Uganda police spokesman hits News reporter with a caterpult for asking irrelevant question,” the caption reads.

The catapult Enanga is holding doesn’t seem to be loaded. But is the claim true? We checked.

Catapult_False

Press conference on illegally imported catapults

A Google reverse image search reveals that the photo is almost a year old.

It appears in several news reports from April 2021, on the Ugandan police probing the source and motive for illegally imported catapults.

Its caption reads: “Fred Enanga showing how some of the recovered catapults are being used.”

The photo is also in a press statement on the Uganda Police Force website, dated 12 April 2021.

And we found a news clip of the press conference, produced by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation

The claim is false.

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