A female protester fainted in Abuja on Friday after police used tear gas to disperse a peaceful demonstration at the MKO Abiola Stadium.
The crowd scattered as police released multiple rounds of tear gas, but two determined protesters remained to assist the young woman who had collapsed.
The woman was subsequently taken to a hospital for treatment.
The police in Abuja, similar to other regions in Nigeria, often disrupt peaceful protests using tear gas, disregarding the potential health risks.
According to a report by PREMIUM TIMES, the police repeatedly used tear gas against protesters in Abuja on Thursday and Friday.
Despite this, the protesters continued to regroup, vowing to maintain their daily demonstrations as part of the 10-day protest organized by activists.
Incident Details
At around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, peaceful demonstrators were marching and chanting to music from a moving van when police officers surrounded them from both ends, trapping them on the road near the stadium.
The heavily equipped police officers suddenly fired multiple rounds of tear gas at the protesters and the journalists covering the event.
In their attempt to escape the tear gas, some protesters and journalists fell into roadside drainage channels. Amidst the chaos, several protesters were injured, and a young woman collapsed on the grassy sidewalk near the stadium’s fence.
After the police eventually left the scene, some protesters were seen calling for help from passersby. By 6:00 p.m., only heavily armed police officers were visible at the main entrance of the MKO Abiola Stadium, and the protesters could not regroup to continue their demonstration.
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