...........No fewer than seven people were killed in Asaba during a protest by MASSOB members
...........Police PRO, Charles Muka said the protesters were violent and attacked policemen deployed to stop the protest
..........He said two policemen were thrown into the River Niger by the protesters The protest by members of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), in Asaba on Monday, May 30, reportedly left no fewer than seven persons dead.
This was confirmed in a statement by the acting police public relations officer in Delta state, SP Charles Muka, Vanguard reports.
According to him, the protesters turned violent and attacked the policemen deployed to
monitor the protest, throwing two into the River Niger.
The military officers were said to have killed five members of MASSOB, who they confronted along the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba.
He said eight of the group’s members were arrested and taken into police custody in Asaba.
“We had to deploy our officers to ensure that the protest was peaceful but we were surprised that the people turned violent. To our surprise, they started attacking our men and at Okwe Junction in Abraka area of Asaba, the group killed a police corporal and took his AK47 riffle.
“Also along the Dennis Osadeby Way in Asaba, they wounded a police officer and took his anti-riot gun. This group also attacked and wounded two policemen, suspected to be marine police, and threw them into the River Niger at Cable Point in Asaba and in the process one died and one was rescued.
“This brings the casualty number to two with two others injured on the side of the police.”
He said the protesters also attacked military vehicles along the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway.
The police PRO stated that a pregnant woman was hit by a stray bullet and she is receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba. He therefore, advised parents and guardians to warn their children and wards to follow the part of peace and pursue their agenda constitutionally.
Today happens to be Biafra Remembrance Day, but the anniversary celebration turned bloody as security agents and pro-Biafran activists clashed.
Trouble started when a team of police officers intercepted the agitators, who gathered at a spot, near an obsolete toll gate in Asaba chanting war songs and tried to stop them. There was commotion as police threw canisters of tear gas to disperse the over 2,000 agitators.
After the police resisted their efforts to march through the Asaba tollgate, BIM-MASSOB agitators, clad in red, black and red attires, took to various streets in Asaba and its environs.
They reportedly engaged the armed policemen in a free for all, which caused stampede as residents of Abraka, within the Asaba metropolis and those traveling along the Asaba/Benin/Onitsha expressway scampered for safety.
In some parts of Anmabra state, especially Onitsha, security agents were said to have battled with pro-Biafra agitators. They reportedly shot at the unarmed protesters at a church in Onitsha, stirring uproar in the state.
#Team_NIS
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