Harboursandport.com: Lagos --- Members of the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria (IMN), for the second time in four days, today engaged security forces
in a bloody clash in the nation’s capital city, Abuja.
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| Protesting members of IMN |
IMN members who are Shi'a Muslims were
in the capital city to demand the release of their detained leader, Sheik
Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
The large crowd of protesters included
adult male and female as well as under-aged members came from various parts of
the country.
They locked all business activities
around the Unity Fountain and 3-Arms Zone in what started as a peaceful
demonstration but turned violent when security forces tried to stop their march
on the street.
Eye witnesses said that the IMN
members were ready for a showdown with the security agents as they defiled
police tear-gas and hot water in their march towards the Eagle Square.
The clash followed a ban issued last
Friday by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello, on protests and rallies
at the popular Unity Fountain, Abuja venue of the #freeZakzaky daily sit-outs.
Members of the religious sect, in
defiance to the police order, on Monday insisted on staging their peaceful
protest around the Fountain; stressing that the ban was a breach of their
constitutional rights.
Security operatives drafted to enforce
the police order deployed teargas, water cannons in serious injuries on both
sides a result of the show down between both parties.
All offices located along the Shehu
Shagari Way, were locked down, with some workers asked to close for fear of
becoming victims of the violence between the police and the IMN members.
Many innocent members of the public
who parked their cars along the ever-busy Shehu Shagari Way had their cars
vandalized with some totally damaged by the irate protesters.
After more than two hours of
encounter, there were claims and counter claims of casualties.
The Secretary of the Academic Forum of
IMN, Mallam Abdullahi wasquoted to have said that at least seven members of the
organization were killed.
He also said that several corpses of
their members who died on the scene of the clash were carried away by the
police to unknown location.
The IMN spokesman said that members of
the sect who sustained gunshot injuries were rushed to a private facility and
were receiving medical attention from health workers among their fold.
“We came out to continue our
peaceful protest in demand for the release of our leader, Sheikh El-Zakzaky,
but true to the promise of the Police Commissioner, we met the Unity Fountain
condoned off by about 200 armed police officer backed by soldiers.
“We engaged them in talks. We asked
them to let us hold our daily sit-out because it is our rights to do so. But
they refused. So, we quickly drafted a petition and headed to the headquarters
of the Human Rights Commission to register our grievances, the security
operative launched an attack on us, using teargas and water cannons to disperse
us and stop us from proceeding with our plans.
“We attempted to resist them with
stones. But then, they opened fire on some of our members killing many and
injuring scores. They also carried away the remains of quite a lot of our
members and even sat on them as they drove to an unknown location.
“On our part, we took 28 to a facility
where some health workers amongst us will give them medical attention.
Unfortunately, we lost seven to profuse bleeding from the gunshot injuries they
sustained,” Musa said.
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