9 killed as pro-Biafra protests turn bloody(Photos)
The three-week-long pro-Biafra protests turned bloody,
yesterday, as the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) killed nine of the
protesters and injured 18 in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra
State.
Irked by the stubborn disposition of the pro- Biafra agitators, who
blocked the Niger Bridge Head and refused to give way to motorists, the
JTF comprising Army,
Navy, Police and Civil Defence troops, yesterday
afternoon, opened fire at protesting members of Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State
of Biafra, MASSOB, killing nine people and injuring 18.
According to Vanguard, five people were killed at Niger Bridge Head
while three were killed at Obodoukwu Road. A suya (barbecue meat) seller
said to have been hit by a stray bullet died instantly. The protesters
were having a peaceful procession across South East states and had vowed
to continue their blockage of the bridge for three days until detained
Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu is released.
Miscreants, on hearing that some people had been shot dead by the
JTF, started another protest, marched to the Central mosque near Onitsha
Main Market and set it ablaze. A Hilux pick-up van with Federal
Government number plate was also burnt when the JTF held motorists and
commuters hostage at Upper Iweka with sporadic shootings that had never
been witnessed before in Onitsha.
The Anambra Police Command said, yesterday, that despite losing two
of its men during the pro-Biafra protests in Onitsha, the command never
retaliated.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ali Okechukwu,
faulted the allegation that Police fired at the protesters, adding that
one of the policemen, a sergeant, was killed at Obodo Ukwu, while the
other was killed at Eze Iweka road.
He said that following the problem in Onitsha, police kept vigil to
ensure that peace was maintained and totally denied police involvement
in the bloody riot that led to the death of about nine people.
“We did not fire a shot at anybody and even when our men were felled, we still did not retaliate,” he said.
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