One person was killed and numerous others were injured in clashes between police and a pro-Iranian Nigerian Shiite group protesting Israel’s incursion into Gaza on Thursday in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, according to information AFP received from both sides.
In an effort to express their support for the Palestinian people and to criticise Israel for its actions in the conflict that has pitted it against Hamas since October 7, hundreds of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) marched through the city on Thursday. They carried Palestinian flags and mannequins that represented dead children.
In response to the demonstrators’ use of tear gas and airborne gunfire to scatter them, AFP saw footage of armed police firing stones at the officers.
“The police opened fire on our peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestine, killing one of our members and injuring several others,” IMN spokesperson Aliyu Tirmizi told AFP.
“We were simply exercising our freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Constitution, and we were not harming anyone, it was not a provocation”, added Mr Tirmizi.
A Kaduna police spokesman confirmed the death, but blamed it on IMN protesters, whom he accused of being armed.
“One person was killed, but he was not one of the demonstrators. He was a chicken seller who was standing near the police when the armed demonstrators killed him,” said Mansur Hassan, spokesman for the Kaduna police. “Any demonstration by the IMN is illegal because the group is banned by the government“, added Mr Hassan.
Inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran at the close of the 1970s, the IMN is closely associated with Tehran and faces intense opposition in Nigeria, where the Sunni Muslim elite openly displays its affinity for Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian government outlawed the movement in 2019. Demonstrations by the group have frequently taken place in Abuja, especially after the arrest of their religious leader Ibrahim Zakzaky. He and his spouse were imprisoned from 2015 to 2021 after violence broke out during a religious procession in Zaria (north), resulting in around 350 fatalities. Nigeria’s population is mostly Muslim in the north and Christian in the south.
