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Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), has said that eleven of its members were killed by the police during its protest Monday in Abuja.
It also said 13 others sustained various degrees of injuries during the clash with the police.
Ibrahim Musa, president in charge of Media Forum of the group who made this known, also accused the police of being responsible for the shooting of the journalist from Channels Television, insisting that the group was not armed.
Musa, made this known in a statement.
made available to our correspondent. It read: “Abuja today yet again witnessed one of the worst cases of blatant trampling of the rights of citizens ever seen in the federal capital, when a joint security forces consisting of both uniformed men and officers of the Nigerian Police Force and others in mufti, unleashed their fury on a Free-Zakzaky protest by members of the Islamic Movement.
“The procession, attended by several thousands of persons, including very young children, the aged, women and the physically-challenged met with an extreme rage indicative of deep-seated animosity the Nigerian authorities bear for the movement.
“What actually happened was that the protesters started the procession from NITEL junction and on getting to Federal Secretariat, the police cordoned off the road and started firing at them.
“A lot of people have been shot but for now, we can only confirm 11 deaths, but several are injured; the figure, for now, stands at 30. Though we are aware of the fact that the security agents have been going around taking off those they killed from the streets.
“Even some seriously-injured persons that were taken to Abuja university teaching hospital, Gwagwalada; the police went there and took away about 11 people they shot during the protest.
“We strongly dispute the claim by the police that the protesters shot at them because throughout our processions, we have not been carrying any arms right from 2015 to date. It was also the police who shot at the reporter of Channels TV, another indication that many innocent people were shot at by the police, including some of their own.
“In this era of social media, the brutality displayed by the police today have been captured with some pictures showing the police setting up the bonfires and there are videos that captured the police carting away their victims”.
