Business activities were on Friday disrupted at Artillery area of Port Harcourt following the solidarity march by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
The IPOB members, dressed in black and red attire with the defunct Biafran flag, marched in batches from Oyigbo and Aba road to the Government House area, causing traffic jam on the busy road.
The group said the march was to show solidarity to the U.S. President Donald Trump as he was being inaugurated.
Trouble started when a batch had an encounter with the police at Okporo road in the Artillery area.
A witness, Roland Joseph, claimed that the fracas started when the group carried a corpse to Okporo Police Station alleging that the police killed the victim.
Mr. Joseph said that as they were approaching the police station, the police reacted by shooting teargas to disperse them.
“This caused serious confusion. Shops closed, people ran helter skelter and tension built up”, he said.
Emekah Uduma, another witness corroborated Mr. Joseph’s view, adding that the police needed to disperse the large crowds by shooting the teargas.
“The police started shooting to scare the crowds away from blocking the station and the major road, a lot of people sustained injuries and some shop owners were forced to lock their shops,” Mr. Uduma said.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Nnamdi Omoni, told NAN that nobody was killed by police.
“No, I am not aware that any Biafran protester was killed today. I’m yet to get the information,” he said.
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