Alwaght-The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has condemned the country’s police forces for attacking peaceful protestors who were calling for the release of the movement’s leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.
In a statement, INM said at least one person was killed on Monday and some others injured when police laid siege on the venue of Free Zakzaky sit out, Unity Fountain in the federal capital, Abuja. The peaceful protest march was then started with the intent of reaching the offices of National Human rights commission.
“It was purely a show of shame by the police and other security services, who are hell bent on forcibly stopping our legitimate campaign for the government to obey the orders of its courts by freeing Sheikh Zakzaky,” the spokesman of the movement, Musa Ibrahim noted.
Despite the condemnation on Tuesday, Nigerian security forces once again attacked hundreds of protesters demanding the release of Sheikh Zakzaky.
The latest clashes broke out after police fired teargas at members of the IMN and activists from several other civil society groups in Wuse Market area of Abuja at midday on Tuesday.
Media reports said scores of protesters were also detained by armed police wearing bulletproof vests and gas masks during the clashes.
According to local media, at least 115 protesters were also detained by Nigerian security forces at the massive protest rally. IMN spokesman has said no amount of cheap blackmail will make them succumb adding that their protests have always been peaceful even in the face of extreme provocation. Responding to a violent crackdown by Nigerian police on members of IMN, Osai Ojigho Director Amnesty International Nigeria said: “This was a needless resort to violence by Nigerian police against a group of unarmed protestors. The IMN members gathered in Abuja were perfectly within their rights in demanding the release of their leader from a detention described by a federal court as both unlawful and unconstitutional.
Tensions between the Nigerian government and Islamic Movement members, mostly Shiite Muslims, broke out in December 2015 in the city of Zaria in Kaduna state when the army killed over 1,000 innocent Muslims. During the incident, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria leader Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife were shot and badly wounded and thereafter detained by Nigerian security agencies. They have since then been held incommunicado by security forces with their health rapidly deteriorating.
The massacre and continued persecution of Shiite Muslims continues amid a deafening silence by the UN which has ignored the crimes committed by the Nigerian regime against Muslims in the West African state.
