Dr Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s main opposition leader, was threatened with arrest when he tried to leave his home in Kampala on Thursday morning and has been confined to his house since.

Police blockaded the end of Besigye’s road and told him that if he attempted to go any further he would be taken to prison.

Besigye has been leading a series of anti-government protests, dubbed “walk-to-work”, against the rising costs of fuel and food. The walks have been held on Mondays and Thursdays.

According to witnesses a police officer stopped Besigye telling him, “Your options are to go back home, or be arrested immediately. Decide.” Besigye went home.

He told the BBC in an interview that he was under “preventive arrest” as police feared that if he left his house unrest would follow.

President Yoweri Museveni is showing no signs of weakening in the face of the protests. He has ordered his police and soldiers to quash any riots, has threatened journalists accused of bias, and has told the new Parliament, which convenes today for the first time, that he wants a new law passed that would deny bail for six months to anyone accused of rioting.