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Incident on 2 December 2015 [+] Print this page

Location: Niger Bridge, also known as Head Bridge, Onitsha North, Anambra [+]

Country: Nigeria [+]

Violation types: Unlawful killings [+]

Perpetrator classifications: Military [+] Navy [+]

Location


This incident took place in Niger Bridge, also known as Head Bridge, Onitsha North, Anambra, Nigeria [+]

Description


According to Amnesty International: "MARCHERS SHOT, HEAD BRIDGE, ONITSHA, 2 DECEMBER 2015 - On 1 December, thousands of IPOB members and supporters held a protest on the Niger Bridge, also known as Head Bridge, a main bridge connecting Anambra and Delta states. They blocked all traffic, causing major disruption. The next day all banks and businesses were closed and the protest continued. One eyewitness, Uzor Otimpi (not his real name), a 21-year-old businessman, told Amnesty International what happened on 2 December: “We had a peaceful protest at the Head Bridge. Everybody marched and sang Biafran songs. We were headed towards the statue of our great leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu… A few meters away from the statue, we sighted a huge number of heavily armed police, army, navy and civil defence personnel. One of the military men addressed us and requested we go home. We insisted that we must get to the statue before going home. They asked us to all raise our hands to prove we had no weapons. We complied and as we got closer, the naval personnel started shooting at us.” He further said: “One of the military men pointed his gun at me and shot me. I fell down immediately and my intestines popped out. Everyone started running. The military men came and started loading the wounded into the Hilux truck but when they got to me, one of them asked them to leave me that I would not survive it, so they left me. That was when some IPOB members rushed and took me to Multicare Hospital.” Eyewitness accounts and verification of video footage indicates that at least six people – three women and three men – were killed and 12 injured. According to one eyewitness, several bystanders were shot: “They even shot and killed one guy standing beside a petrol station, close to the Head Bridge. The man was not part of the protest but they still killed him.”" [+]

Sources

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Publication Date Publisher Publication Title Access Date Archive Link
24 November 2016 Amnesty International Nigeria: 'Bullets Were Flying Everywhere' - Deadly Repression of Pro-Biafra Activists 27 September 2018