One person has been
reportedly killed and several others injured after members of the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) clashed with the police in the capital
Abuja.
The police, using tear gas and live ammunitions, forcefully dispersed
Shia protesters demanding the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim
Zakzaky, at the Unity Fountain on Monday.
Sheikh Zakzaky has been detained without trial for over two years.
Abdullahi Muhammad, an IMN leader, said he witnessed police dragging
bullet-hit protesters into a van and sitting on them, adding that he did
not know if they were dead or alive.
"As we started protesting they started shooting tear gas and using
water cannons," Muhammad said, noting, "We refused to disperse and they
used bullets as well, and they shot so many people."
"They want to push us to violence but they couldn't, so that is why
they are using live ammunition, thinking that killing will stop us. No
amount of killing will stop us."
"The only thing that will stop these protests is when the government frees our leader."
A number of videos uploaded on social media showed wreaths of tear
gas enveloping Abuja's streets in the upmarket Maitama district, near
the landmark Transcorp Hilton hotel. Other videos showed protesters
pelting an armored police vehicle with rocks before it sped away, and
people fleeing the area.
Earlier this year, at least two young students were killed by
security forces during protests for Sheikh Zakzaky’s release in Kaduna,
which broke out on January 7.
The top Shia cleric lost his left eyesight in the raid which was
carried out by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town
of Zaria in December 2015. The photo taken on August 11, 2016, shows protesters from
the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) holding a banner with a photograph
of detained leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky to press for his release in
the northern Nigerian city of Kano. (Photo by AFP)
During the raid, Sheikh Zakzaky’s wife sustained serious wounds too
and more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed.
The cleric, his wife, and a large number of his followers have since
been in custody.
A judicial inquiry after the 2015 brutal raid concluded that the
military had killed 347 IMN members in Zaria. Soldiers buried the bodies
in mass graves.
Several international organizations and human rights groups have denounced “the Zaria massacre."
The violent repression of Shia Muslims has drawn accusations that
President Muhammadu Buhari's government is abusing human rights.
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