Annual Arbaeen trek: Shiites, police clash in Kano

Men of the Nigerian Police yesterday dispersed hundreds of Shiite members who had planned to embark on the annual Arbaeen trek from Kano to Zaria.

A witness, Malam Abdulrahman Bukar, said the Shiites members started gathering in the early hours of yesterday around Dangi roundabout near the state’s Audu Bako Secretariat while the police command stationed policemen at various places within the state metropolis and along the Kano-Zaria highway.

He said the police resorted to the use of teargas and firing of gunshots into the air when Shiites began to move towards Zaria road.  

Another witness told Daily Trust that at a point, members of the Shiites began to attack the police with stones and that it was this that made the police to use teargas and to fire shots in the air.

The Kano State Police Public Relations Officer Magaji Musa Majiya said the command had advised the Shiites against road blockage and unlawful gathering, but that the police did not stop anybody from going to Zaria as long as they would go in a vehicle.