Police allowed the event to proceed but as the opposition leaders left the capital's Roman Catholic Church compound they were met with more tear gas and pepper spray, an AFP correspondent reported.

A group of armed men in civilian clothes then rushed from the nearby Central Police Station and started clobbering civilians in the streets that had already been barricaded by police.

It was not clear if there were any casualties, nor why the police acted in the way they did. The leaders of the Forum for Democratic Change, the Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the Justice Forum called the briefing to demand the release of 27 people, including two opposition leaders, from police custody.

They were detained on suspicion of taking part in Thursday's protest against government plans to cut down a swathe of the Mabira Forest Reserve east of Kampala to pave the way for an Indian-owned firm to plant sugarcane.

Three people were killed in the protests, including an asian man stoned to death and two Ugandans shot by private guards.

On Tuesday police charged four suspects with murder and 19 others with participating in an illegal demonstration, their lawyer said.

"The 19, including the two MPs, were allowed bail, but remained in custody because it was late for the court to process bail," their lawyer told AFP. The fate of the three others remained unclear.

In a joint statement the opposition parties demanded the release of the detainees, saying: "Failure to respond to this call shall leave us with no option but (to) enjoin the masses into a civil action."

Ugandan activists have vowed to oppose the planned clearance of around 7,000 of the 30,000-hectare (75,000-acre) Mabira Forest Reserve.

earlier related report
Uganda police arrest two lawmakers over deadly protest
Kampala (AFP) April 16 - Ugandan police on Monday arrested two MPs and 25 other people in connection with last week's street demonstration against plans to clear a reserved forest to grow commercial sugarcane, lawyers said.

Police arrested lawmakers Beatrice Atim and Hussein Kyanjo in Kampala as they launched investigations into last Thursday's violent protests in which a man of Asian origin was stoned to death and private guards killed two suspected looters.

"My clients have been detained in connection with Thursday's demonstration opposing the giving away of Mabira Forest," Elian Lukwago told AFP.

"They went to be questioned, but have instead been detained in police cells. No specific charges has been mentioned," he added.

"Twenty five other people, mainly from the opposition Democratic Party, are also in police cells."

The demonstration rekindled memories in 1972 when former dictator Idi Amin, expelled around 50,000 Asian merchants from Uganda and confiscated their properties. Some have since returned and dominated businesses here.

The demonstrators were rallying against the plan to clear around 7,000 of the 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) in Mabira Forest Reserve east of Kampala.

The government plans to seek parliamentary approval before handing over the forest land to Indian-owned Mehta Group for sugar cane farming, a move that has angered conservationists and opposition lawmakers.

They have warned that further encroachment of the forest would threaten up to 312 species of trees, 287 species of bird and 199 of butterflies.

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