BREAKING: Shi’ites defy police, hold Ashura procession in Wuse
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/09/breaking-shiites-defy-police-hold.html
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has carried out its Ashura mourning procession in Abuja, in defiance of the police.
The Ashura procession is an annual religious ritual carried out by the Shia Islamic sect all over the world on September 10.
Participants including men, women, and children held the procession
for a few kilometres from Berger Roundabout to Wuse, and hurriedly
concluded the exercise to avoid a confrontation with security personnel.
Our correspondent learnt that the procession which commenced by 8
this morning lasted for about 25 minutes and caused traffic gridlock in
the commercial area, but there was no report of any incident.
None of the IMN spokesmen could be reached for comment as calls to their phones rang out.
The Shi’ites had on Monday raised the alarm that the police were
planning to attack the Ashura mourning procession holding in Abuja and
other cities in the North.
The Shi’ites said that they had credible information that the force
“will employ extrajudicial approach to assault, arrest or kill whoever
participates in the religious event.”
A member of the Academic Forum of the IMN, Abdullahi Musa, who said
this in a statement, invited religious leaders, Civil Society
Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, the international
community, journalists and the public to monitor the conduct of the
Ashura procession “in order to expose those that are so desperate to
cause violence for a pittance.”
In their reaction, the police had warned the sect against carrying
out the procession, stating that by virtue of the Terrorism (Prevention)
Proscription Order Notice of July 26, 2019, the IMN had been proscribed
in the country and cannot hold any procession.
The force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, said any gathering by the
Shi’ites “will be treated as a gathering in the advancement of
terrorism.”
Meanwhile, security operatives have locked down the Abuja-Keffi
Expressway apparently to prevent the Shi’ite members living in that axis
from coming to the city centre to participate in the procession.
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