By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Like thugs, some soldiers and policemen were caught in video stabbing one Shiite protester multiple times with a knife. Others wielded sticks on the already subdued members, the kind of atrocities reminiscent of the dreaded days of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which precipitated the #EndSARS protest.
At least 42 members of the Shiite movement, who go by the name Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), have been arrested, the police say.
FCT Police spokeswoman, DSP Josephine Adeh, said some of the members came from Niger, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno and Kaduna states to “cause mayhem in the FCT.”
But it turns out that the police and soldiers were the ones disrupting the peace with their use of sledgehammers to kill flies.
A video showed one officer of the law using a knife to stab one of the protesters, while his colleagues used sticks to hit already subdued members of the IMN.
The video has been published by the Daily Trust on its website and Facebook page.
Media reports also indicate that six persons have been killed by security forces who fired gunshots at the protesters.
Recall that it was this kind of brutality that made the Canadian Immigration Service, backed by a court in the country to ban former operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) from entering the country.
But the police say the protesters stormed the Federal Capital Territory in large numbers, obstructing traffic and throwing stones and explosives at its operatives.
According to reports, even women members of IMN were not spared of the assault, as they were flogged and kicked by soldiers before they were tucked into a waiting van.
