Two days after the violent clash at the National
Assembly which left a policeman dead, other people injured and many vehicles
damaged, the Shiite group again confronted policemen on Thursday morning at the
Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria
(IMN) were, however, dispersed by the police who shot sporadically into the air
in a bid to dislodge the protesters from the Three Arms Zone.
It was gathered that some of the Shiites were
bruised from the confrontation with the police, while about 10 members of the
group were arrested by policemen, who arrived at the scene on about six patrol
vehicles.
Used tear gas canisters littered the vicinity of
the Federal Secretariat, which incidentally is at the opposite of the National
Assembly, and was the theatre of clashes between the Islamic sect members and
security men last Tuesday.
When the conflict escalated, many civil servants,
who were only settling for the day’s task, ran into their offices while
pedestrians scampered into different direction to avoid being hit by stray
bullets and the projectiles which the Islamists were aimlessly lobbing at the
security men.
Following their dispersal at the federal
secretariat, the remnants of the Shiites headed towards Ahmadu Bello Way before
berthing at the Central Mosque and Shehu Yar’ Adua Centre where they again
clashed with security operatives
The Shiites were protesting the continued detention
of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, by the Department of
State Services (DSS) since December 2018 following a fatal clash between the group
and the Nigerian Army in Kaduna State.
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