Police in Uganda arrested about two dozen people attending the Mr. and Miss Pride Uganda pageant at Kampala's Venom nightclub on Thursday.

According to BuzzFeed News, police detained several well-known LGBT activists for about three hours. No charges were filed. Most of the 200 people attending the pageant, part of Uganda Pride, were allowed to leave.

Last year's winner of Mr. Pride, Adebayo Katiiti Phiona, told BuzzFeed that police “were beating people … mostly the trans women.”

“A police person even stepped on a trans woman,” Phiona added.

Police claimed that the event was being held without proper permission, a claim organizers deny.

“As soon as [the word homosexuality] is mentioned, everything else ceases and [police feel they] have to act,” Pepe Julian Onziema of Sexual Minorities Uganda said.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) condemned the police raid.

“The violent raid and arrest of LGBTQ leaders attending a Uganda Pride event is an affront to the universal freedom to peaceably assemble and to the basic dignity of LGBTQ Ugandans,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Ugandan authorities must stop targeting and persecuting LGBTQ people. The victims of the raid deserve an apology from their government and police force. The world is watching.”