A team of anti-riot police brutally attacked a peaceful
protest by students of Nigerian polytechnics in Lagos earlier today. The police
tear-gassed and assaulted the protesters, and arrested more than 100 students
and reporters, including Segun Olawoye, a citizen reporter affiliated with
SaharaTV.
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| Camera of SaharaTV crew smashed by the police |
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| Students being teargassed by the police |
The arrested students accused the police of also using tear
gas on them after they were herded into prison vehicles known as Black Maria.
The protesting polytechnic students said they wanted to draw
attention to their plight as they have been out of school for close to nine
months owing to a general strike by their lecturers. The protesters accused the
Goodluck Jonathan administration of triggering the strike by refusing to honor
a 2009 agreement with polytechnic teachers across Nigeria.
Our sources said trouble started as soon as the protesters
moved from Yaba College of Technology in the Yaba area of Lagos towards Lagos
Island. “We were attacked by policemen around Adekunle bus stop area,” said one
source. “The policemen viciously beat up many students after firing into the
air and bombarding us with teargas.”
The police then rounded up numerous injured and gasping
protesters and threw them into waiting prison vans where they were stung with
more tear gas fumes. Mr. Olawoye, who was covering the protest for
SaharaReporters, had his cameras seized and smashed by the rampaging policemen.
SaharaReporters contacted police spokesman, Frank Mba,
regarding the repressive action of the police towards peaceful protesters. Mr.
Mba said he could not ascertain which unit of the police carried out the
attack, stating that he was traveling to Abuja by road.
Just before going to press, SaharaReporters learned that the
police had released more than 100 students who were initially detained inside
crowded Black Maria vehicles parked at the entrance to the Third Mainland
bridge via Adekunle area in Yaba, Lagos.
Two of the released protesters told SaharaReporters that
they almost suffocated from the heat inside the vehicles compounded by teargas
fumes
Saharareporters.com
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