In Abuja, as seen in many other parts of Nigeria, the police have developed a pattern of disrupting peaceful protests with tear gas and live ammunition. During ongoing demonstrations at the MKO Abiola Stadium, State Security Services (SSS) officials and police resorted to shooting live rounds and deploying tear gas to disperse both protesters and journalists.
Masked SSS officials, dressed in black uniforms, arrived in several Toyota Sienna vans and began shooting live rounds at the peaceful demonstrators.
This occurred shortly after heavily armed police officers, stationed at the stadium’s main entrance, fired tear gas at the protesters. Several demonstrators were harassed and arrested.
At approximately 12:15 p.m., an SSS official wearing a black mask approached journalists covering the protest, cracked his rifle, and started firing. The pellets from the bullets shattered the windscreen of a Sienna vehicle, while three bullets pierced the trunk of another car transporting journalists deployed to cover the event.
