Though the protest started a bit late in Lagos State, policemen had to fire gunshots and teargas canisters to disperse protesters in at Ojota area of the state, on Saturday. The police claimed that the gunshots and teargas canisters were fired when suspected hoodlums were trying to hijack the protest.
Three protesters, who were accused of being unruly and recording police activities, were also arrested, but were later released after intervention of some senior police officers.
There were, however, peaceful protests by different groups of people in Surulere, Lekki, Lagos Island and Alausa.
Our correspondence gathered that the Ojota protest started around 9:00 a.m, about two hours after some prospective protesters had left the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park. The protesters, some of whom were members of the Revolution Now Group, converged near the Freedom Park and were heading towards the park when they were stopped by policemen. Heavily armed policemen, who had arrived at the scene before the protesters, had to fire teargas and gun shots to disperse the crowd.
Journalists, who were at the park to cover the event, also had their share of harassment from the policemen, who initially stopped them from covering the protest.
Heavy police presence also characterised the protests in Alausa, Surulere and Lekki, as Area Commander›s and Divisional Police Officers of the affected places, policemen from the Task Force and Rapid Response Squad were on the ground.
