The Nigerian police fired guns and tear gas in a clash with a protesting group of Nigeria’s Shia Muslims in the capital Abuja. The latest protests come just two days after a peaceful demonstration turned violent outside the National Assembly complex.
The witnesses reported sounds of gunshots from the site. They said they also saw some policemen fire their weapons in an effort to disperse hundreds who gathered outside government buildings. One witness said it did not appear the police were aiming at protesters, but they appeared to be firing live rounds.
The members of the pro-Iran Shia Muslim sect have been protesting against the detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, who has been detained since 2015 when fighting between his supporters and the army broke out. Zakzaky and his supporters have had regular run-ins with Nigeria’s secular authorities for years because of his call for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution.
The protesting group, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), said it will continue protesting until they secure the release of el-Zakzaky, the Islamic scholar who founded the IMN in the early 1980s.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s National Assembly went into lockdown after violent clashes between the police and IMN supporters took place. The confrontation left at least two dead and 40 protesters in police custody. Each side blamed the other for the gunfire.
Some senior IMN leaders told Al Jazeera that they have credible information that el-Zakzaky suffered a stroke earlier this week.
“Security officers told us that the sheikh suffered another stroke on Monday,” said Abdullahi Musa, general secretary of the academic forum of IMN. “His condition is seriously deteriorating. There’s an urgent need for him to be flown abroad for medical treatment. That’s why we keep on protesting.”
He called on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his accomplices to release Zakzaky immediately.
