Police in Nigeria's oil hub of Port Harcourt on Tuesday fired shots and teargas to disperse hundreds of pro-Biafra supporters as they marched for the release of a key activist, residents said.

Shots were fired into the air to scare away the protesters in the southern city, while air force helicopters were deployed for surveillance, they added.

The police spokesman for Rivers state, of which Port Harcourt is the capital, confirmed the protest but denied the use of either teargas or gunshots.


"Measures have been put in place to handle the situation in such a way that public peace is not disrupted and to ensure life and property are protected," Ahmad Muhammad told AFP, without elaborating.

The protest, involving the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, comes after a series of similar marches in state capitals in southern Nigeria in the last week, despite a police ban.

The groups support the creation of a breakaway state of Biafra in the southeast and want the release of Nnamdi Kanu, who is believed to be a major IPOB sponsor and director of the pirate radio station Radio Biafra.

He was arrested in October, several months after Nigeria's government ordered Radio Biafra to be taken off air for allegedly broadcasting "unsavoury hate messages".

A previous unilateral declaration of secession to create the Republic of Biafra sparked a brutal civil war in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.

Federal police said last week security had been increased across the country and measures put in place "to ensure security and nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace of the nation".

The demand for Kanu's release has stirred up more protests across states in the region in the past days.

Since the end of the civil war, which left more than one million dead, many from starvation and disease, there have been sporadic attempts to revive the Biafra movement.

The Igbo people who dominate the southeast region claim they have been unfairly treated -- even punished -- since the fighting stopped.

Infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity is lacking along with medical care and education, while Igbos say they have been denied senior political posts.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3312166/Shots-teargas-fired-pro-Biafra-protesters-Nigeria.html

#Freennamdikanu now

Pls we don't need to fight ourselves, our security men need to be retrained how to treat citizens

those guys are formidable. dey r willing to die for what dey blv

It's either Biafra or death

Yes we can.

They said we are fearful, yet we faced armoured tanks.

They said we can't leave our shops, yet all shops and banks shut down.

They said PH, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers are not Biafra, yet their Protest is worse.

They said no Biafra, but I bet we shall all be around to celebrate our sweet Independence from Wickedness.

The world is listening.

The slave master ceases to be the master, any day the slave say NO to being a slave.

We must negotiate Nigeria now.

ok

shots fired in the air, not at the protesters. Op, title is misleading.

it is really picking up the Biafran campaign, it is quite interesting to watch!

Biafrans suffer because of oil, if Biafra had no oil Britain would not have sponsored the war by Nigeria, they would have let us fight and kill ourselves like every other African country without natural resources, your this dead for "Shell"

SolutionsGuy:
shots fired in the air, not at the protesters. Op, title is misleading.

I know, it is the How the Daily Times, wrote it, I suppose they are try to capture more readers interest!

speedyGonzales:
Police in Nigeria's oil hub of Port Harcourt on Tuesday fired shots and teargas to disperse hundreds of pro-Biafra supporters as they marched for the release of a key activist, residents said.

Shots were fired into the air to scare away the protesters in the southern city, while air force helicopters were deployed for surveillance, they added.

The police spokesman for Rivers state, of which Port Harcourt is the capital, confirmed the protest but denied the use of either teargas or gunshots.


"Measures have been put in place to handle the situation in such a way that public peace is not disrupted and to ensure life and property are protected," Ahmad Muhammad told AFP, without elaborating.

The protest, involving the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, comes after a series of similar marches in state capitals in southern Nigeria in the last week, despite a police ban.

The groups support the creation of a breakaway state of Biafra in the southeast and want the release of Nnamdi Kanu, who is believed to be a major IPOB sponsor and director of the pirate radio station Radio Biafra.

He was arrested in October, several months after Nigeria's government ordered Radio Biafra to be taken off air for allegedly broadcasting "unsavoury hate messages".

A previous unilateral declaration of secession to create the Republic of Biafra sparked a brutal civil war in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.

Federal police said last week security had been increased across the country and measures put in place "to ensure security and nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace of the nation".

The demand for Kanu's release has stirred up more protests across states in the region in the past days.

Since the end of the civil war, which left more than one million dead, many from starvation and disease, there have been sporadic attempts to revive the Biafra movement.

The Igbo people who dominate the southeast region claim they have been unfairly treated -- even punished -- since the fighting stopped.

Infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity is lacking along with medical care and education, while Igbos say they have been denied senior political posts.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3312166/Shots-teargas-fired-pro-Biafra-protesters-Nigeria.html

Speeadygonzales hates black people and mixedrace people. Thats why he is posting bullsh!t on my topics all the time. He also hates julius malema idi amin and mugabe

Land grabbers

Kingsolex1:
Land grabbers

SpeedyGonzales is a dick grabber

Kingsolex1:
Land grabbers

Na ur papa land them grab scratched face baboons.