At least one person is reported dead and many more are injured after police opened fire on the annual Al-Quds Day march in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and the city of Kaduna

Videos from Abuja show police firing tear gas at the march and protestors scrambling for cover.

Eyewitnesses in the city of Kaduna also report police shooting at the rally in the city. No casualties have yet been reported.

Before the start of today’s marches, organisers had expressed fears that a heavy security presence augured ill for protestors.

IHRC had raised concerns prior to the Abuja march about the provocative positioning of police forces and deliberate misinformation being put out by the police that the marches were not for Palestine but to show solidarity with Sheikh Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.

The Al-Quds Day parade takes place every year on the last Friday of Ramadan in towns and cities all over Nigeria, and indeed the Muslim world to show solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.

This is not the first time security forces have attacked Al-Quds protestors in Nigeria. In July 2014, police opened fire on a rally in Zaria, northern Nigeria killing 34 people.

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
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