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Protesters, Police in Bloody Clash in Lagos By Godwin Ifijeh, Chris Nwachukwu, Eugene Agha and Oghenekevwe Laba
Lagos yesterday erupted in early morning violence over the fuel price hike as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)'s strike action entered its second week.
The violent protests which commenced as some private vehicle owners and some other commercial vehicle operators got set to move to their destinations were said to be organised reactions by some civil rights groups to government tardiness in resolving the fuel price crisis. Some sources also believe that the violence was a response to the attempt to break the ranks of labour with the weekend announcement by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) consisting of senior workers in both public and private sectors withdrawing from the strike action. Yesterday's bloody clash between protesters and policemen were said to have claimed several lives cut down in hail of bullets by security men seeking to disperse the protesters. There were varying accounts as to the number of people killed in the clash. While NLC president, Adams Oshiomhole told reporters that 10 people were shot dead by the police, the Cable News Network (CNN) which initially quoted him later reported that the casualty list had risen to 12. A local television station also reported that 17 people lost their lives in the police-protesters clash. THISDAY checks reveal that not less than four people died. The police, however, denied that anybody was killed in the confrontations which swept through all the major streets in the state. Our correspondents who went round the city reported that three people were killed in Akowonjo, a Lagos suburb, while one person was shot dead in Yaba on the mainland area. Other areas where the violent exchange was believed to have claimed lives are Mushin, Fadeyi, Oshodi, and Barliet area on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. Lagosians had woken up to meet the roads barricaded with bonfire made with tyres and waste dump massed on road sides. From as early as 7 am, the protesters had taken over the city, making bonfire and preventing motorists, commercial transport vehicles and commuters, who had left home early to set about their businesses from continuing with their journeys. Many of such commuters had the wind screens of their vehicles vandalised while the individuals were assaulted. The protesters made up of students, NLC Officials, members of the United Action for Democracy (UAD), suspected members of Oodua Peoples' Congress (OPC) and Lagos urchins, popularly referred to as 'Area Boys', had paralysed activities in the city, forcing vehicles away from the roads, blocking the highways with waste as well as forcing traders to close shops. In Oshodi, Yaba, Akonwojo, Maryland, Ketu, Ajegunle, Iyana Ipaja, Ikorodu Road, Egbeda, Mile 2, Amuwo Odofin, Okokomaiko, Orile, Agege, Ikeja and even Central Lagos, the protesters, carried placards, berating the Federal Government for unduly prolonging negotiations with the NLC and contributing to the continuing suffering of the masses. They also chanted solidiarity songs, vowing to sustain the protest until the Federal Government reverts the prices to the previous rates before the hike. They had dismissed the N32 per litre of petrol proposed by the NLC, saying that even at that, prices of goods and transport fares would not come down. Attempts by the police to clear the roads of the bonfire and barricades had been resisted by the protesters, who dared the police, asking them to retreat or meet fire for fire. In Oshodi, Charity and Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Road, a team of Lagos State Anti-Crime Squad, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), which attempted to dislodge the protesters earlier in the day were resisted by a group suspected to be OPC members. The protesters had ordered the policemen to go back in their own interest. The young men who brandished weapons of all sorts, eventually forced the policemen to beat a retreat until a detachment of mobile policemen were deployed to disperse them with tear gas. The story was, however, not the same in Agege, Dopemu, Akowonjo, Ketu and Yaba. In Akonwojo, the Police had to employ force to dislodge the protesting youths. Live bullets were allegedly used, killing three people while several others sustained injuries. The protesters claimed that a mobile policeman had shot into the crowd against the advice of his Inspector, thereby killing three people, including one Etim Akpan. Akpan, whose wife was said to have just delivered a baby, was going to buy drugs when he was hit by a stray bullet. In Yaba, where one person, Abdulazziz Tunde Andogi, was killed, the entire area was afterwards covered with thick smoke from tear gas unleashed by the police. Even the NLC Secretariat in the area was not spared in the rain of tear gas cannisters. The police were alleged to have taken the corpse of the youth killed in the area to the Area 'C ' Command of the Lagos State Police Command. Similarly, unconfirmed reports had it that two people were killed in Mushin, one in Fadeyi, and two in Ketu. The police, however, denied the charge, claiming that no one was killed by the police. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Operation II, DECOMPOL 2), , Mr. John Haruna, who led the police team to Yaba, said his men never used live bullets and therefore could not have killed anybody. Haruna said if anybody was killed, he may have been victim of speeding drivers running at break neck speed to escape from the protesters. The Lagos State Commis-sioner of Police (CP), Mr. Young Arebamen, who also reiterated Haruna's position, said policemen despatched to dismantle blockades mounted on highways to prevent movement of vehicles and people, were strictly instructed not to use lethal weapons. The Commissioner said inspite of provocation by the protesters, his men kept calm and handled the situation to ensure that no one was killed. Arebamen, who denied claims that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Tafa Balogun, on hearing of reports of unrest in Lagos early yesterday, ordered that the police could shoot to scare the protesters, said 61 arrests, including six women were made during the protests. The CP said a vehicle belonging to the Alakara Police Division, Alakara, in the Mushin area of the city, was burnt just as the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station also lost three teeth to the protesters. Meanwhile, the President General of the National Associa-tion of Nigeria Traders, Ken Ukaohu, ordered yesterday that traders should not open their shops from today. He further directed that the traders from now on should ensure that they were part of all protests against the petroleum products price hike. |
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