Police in Kaduna have dispersed a pro-Palestine protest organised by the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shiite.
The protesters were declaring their unalloyed support for the people of Gaza in Palestine who have been under the siege of Israeli airstrikes since October 7.
IMN members, who started their protest from the premises of the Kaduna State office of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) marched through Muhammadu Buhari Way to the office of the National Human Rights Commission to submit their letter.
Minutes after the protest commenced, men of the Nigeria police fired teargas canisters and shot into the air to disperse the protesters.
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The Shiite members alleged that the police killed two of their men.
But the police spokesman dismissed the claim as a lie.
Aliyu Umar Tirmizi, who spoke on behalf of the protesters said, “The Israeli occupiers have for the past 75 years been unleashing genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid on the unarmed civilians that include men, women and children.
“The oppressed people of Palestine and indeed human-minded people from all over the world have risen against these atrocities. We call on all kind-hearted individuals across the world to lend their voices in support of the oppressed Palestinians and condemn Israel and her cohorts. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.”
The protesters carried placards and white clothes wrapped like dead babies with blood stains, symbolising the children killed in the Israel/Palestine war while chanting death to Israel, we support Palestine.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Police Command has claimed that members of the Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky led IMN killed one person identified as Aliyu during a pro-Palestine protest in Kaduna.
The command through its Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansur Hassan, also claimed that members of the IMN started firing at the policemen who were drafted to disperse the ‘illegal’ protest and in the process, the protesters killed a civilian.
Reacting to the allegation that the police killed two of their men, ASP Hassan said, “It is a lie to say that police killed two Shi’ite members. We were only out to disperse the protesters because IMN is a proscribed organisation in Kaduna State. They were protesting against the Israel and Palestine war, but this is not Israel, this is Kaduna.
“On the contrary, it was the IMN members that started firing at our men. They fired catapults with pellets at our men. In the process, they (Shi’ites) killed one civilian identified as Aliyu. They blocked the road, attacked innocent civilians passing by,” the PPRO said.
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