Hundreds of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) members poured into the streets of Kaduna carrying Palestinian flags and dummies of dead children in a show of solidarity with Palestinians and condemnation of Israel.
Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials. They also took around 240 hostages. In response, Israel has carried out a major air and ground operation in Gaza, which the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says has now killed more than 11 500 people, including thousands of children.
In Kaduna, footage seen by AFP showed police firing teargas canisters and shooting into the air to disperse the protesters, who responded by hurling stones.
“The police opened fire on our peaceful protest in solidarity with Palestine, killing our member and injuring several others,” said IMN spokesperson Aliyu Tirmizi.
A police spokesperson in Kaduna blamed the death on the IMN protesters, accusing them of carrying weapons.
Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan said the dead man was a bystander killed by the armed protesters. “Any protest by IMN is illegal as the group remains outlawed by the government,” Hassan said.
The IMN seeks to establish an Islamic state through an Iranian-style revolution and, along with leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, has been at loggerheads with the Nigerian government for years.
The Kaduna state government banned the group in 2016 following a crackdown on its headquarters in the city of Zaria the previous year in which around 350 members were killed. It was banned by the wider Nigerian government in 2019.
Zakzaky, who lost an eye in the crackdown, was arrested and held along with his wife but freed in 2021 after a court acquitted them of murder. The couple are now in Iran on a medical trip.
