Crime • Created April 18, 2018 00:21

Shiites: 12 more protesters detained

There was panic among Abuja residents as police officers on Tuesday dispersed suspected Shiites protesters in the Federal Capital Territory. Members of the Islamic movement had assembled at Wuse area in Abuja and were processing towards the Berger junction area when they were intercepted by the police and dispersed. They reportedly managed to regroup at […]

Shiites: 12 more protesters detained

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There was panic among Abuja residents as police officers on Tuesday dispersed suspected Shiites protesters in the Federal Capital Territory.

Members of the Islamic movement had assembled at Wuse area in Abuja and were processing towards the Berger junction area when they were intercepted by the police and dispersed.

They reportedly managed to regroup at the Berger junction, where police swooped down on them, firing water cannon and teargas forcing the protesters to disperse.

Residents, however, said the police vehicles were seen chasing the protesters who in turn hurled stones and other objects at them.

Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians, a civil society group involved in the demonstration, said that 12 protesters, including the National Publicity Secretary of Concerned Nigerians group, Theophilus Abu Agada, were arrested and detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad office in Abuja

 

Tuesday’s incident follows the arrest of 115 Shiites on Monday after police and Shiite protesters clashed near Unity Park and Transcorp Hilton Hotel on Monday.

The Islamic movement has been agitating for the release of their leader Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky who has been in detention since December 2016.

‘We Want To Defy Dictatorship’

The protesters in Abuja continued their protest at the nation’s capital on Tuesday claiming that they want to defy dictatorship.

“We’ve come under serious attack today,” said Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians, a civil society group involved in the demonstration.

“The more they attack the more (we) come out,” Deji said. “We want to defy tyranny and a dictatorship.”

The police did not immediately comment.

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