Scores injured as DSS, Police disperse #NoMoreBlood protesters in Katsina

Scores of protesters under the umbrella of #NoMoreBlood in Katsina State, have been injured after operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Police forcefully dispersed and chased them from streets in the state.

The protesters had, on Tuesday, trooped to the streets to register their grievances over the spate of killings in the state and other parts of the country.

The #NoMoreBlood which kicked off on Friday, has been ongoing in many northern states like Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara and Sokoto to call the attention of the Federal and State governments to the escalating insecurity and wanton killings in the region.

According to one of the leaders of the Katsina protesters, the youths had trooped into the streets wielding placards for the peaceful protest and had converged at the palace of the Emir of Katsina at Kofar Soro roundabout, singing protest songs when the security personnel arrived and forcefully chased them away, resulting to some of the youths sustaining injuries.

One of the conveners of the protest, Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar Unguwa, who is also the the National Secretary of Muryar Talaka (Voice of the Masses), one of the conveners of the protest, told journalists that the protest was planned to draw the attention of the government “to take the right steps towards addressing the degenerating and debilitating challenge of insecurity in the north and the country as a whole.”

He continued, “Today nobody is safe, even those living in the cities. We are all aware of the gruesome murder of the Katsina State Commissioner of Science and Technology, Dr Rabe Nasir, which shows that even those living in the cities are not safe.

READ ALSO: SSS invites another #NoMoreBloodShed convener over protest against insecurity in the North

“Many are still held in captivity, in kidnappers’ dens, many are killed. You cannot even travel from Katsina to Sokoto through Jibia road due to activities of kidnappers.

“Today, we even have parallel government run by bandit warlords in some parts of the country. So we want to draw the attention of the governments to do the needful as we join our brothers and sisters protesting all over the country,” Unguwa said.

“The strategies used by the security agents had failed as they always wait for the attack only to be on the defensive side.

“Instead of taking the battle to the terrorists and flushing them out from the forests, they wait for them to kil innocent Nigerians before reacting,” he added.

A female protester, Jamila Abbas, who also spoke to journalists, said as a mother and wife, women are at the receiving end of the consequences of insecurity.

“The killings in the north are on the increase and it affects even the security agents themselves. Therefore, there is the need on the part of the government to be more proactive in tackling the menace,” Abbas said.

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