Friday, July 28, 2006

Mob Justice

Early this afternoon, I was waiting at a travel agent's office in town to pick up tickets for a team when I heard commotion out on Uganda Road. (Yip, this road leads to Uganda.) It seemed like everyone on the street had come to a standstill, watching some event unfolding. Next, a group of about 15 men paraded past the office, holding on to one scared-looking fellow in an orange shirt. Some people were laughing. Others were just staring.

The agent explained that it must've been a pickpocket that had been caught. "It's good they caught him," she said while non-chalantly continuing with the issuing of the tickets. "The only thing I don't like about mob justice is that they can really hurt the person with flogging..."

When I drove off minutes later, there was no sign of the earlier commotion. The group must've taken the man to the backstreets to take care of business... It's a bizarre system, but apparantly it works. I am not sure if it's legal, or what the police do when mob justice takes place.

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