Security beefed up around national assembly as Shi’ites troop to the streets of Abuja

Security has been beefed up around the National Assembly Complex to prevent members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) from possibly converging on the place.

Heavily-armed security operatives have mounted strategic locations while sniffer dogs have been deployed in the premises.

On Tuesday, some Shi’ites members returned to the streets in the nation’s capital despite the arrest of some of their members.

They had converged around the Wuse market area of the town to demand the release of those arrested on Monday.

An attempt to prevent the group from holding a rally at the Unity Fountain in Abuja led to a break down of law and order on Monday.

Out of fear that the situation may snowball into another crisis, residents and traders fled towards different directions.

One person was reportedly shot dead by the police on Monday, but they have since denied being responsible for the killing.

The federal capital territory command of the Nigeria Police Force had announced that it arrested 115 “violent protesters”.

The command said 22 policemen were injured while government and police vehicles were destroyed.

Anjuri Manza, spokesman of the FCT police command, told TheCable that he was yet to get a full briefing about Tuesday’s incident but would give information as soon as it is available.

“I don’t have a brief of what happened today. Honestly, I’ve been off on an assignment. I’ll release the information as soon as I have it,” he said.

The Shi’ite have been demanding the release of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, their leader, who has been in detention since December 2015.

He was arrested following a clash between soldiers and some members of his sect.

Editor’s note: This picture was used for illustrative purposes