The police in Kano State reportedly fired their weapons into a crowd of peaceful labor activists outside the Viva Poly Bag Company, according to sources speaking to SaharaReporters. The company is located in the Gezawa Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State, a few miles from Kano city.
Eyewitnesses speaking to SaharaReporters said the incident happened early Wednesday morning when the staff of the company staged a peaceful protest.
It was gathered that the protesters were demanding the establishment of a union, something that the management of the company was not in support of.
However, trouble started when one of the police officer deployed to the area, attempting to maintain order, allegedly opened fire on the protesters.
One of the protesting workers was said to have been injured, prompting the aggrieved workers to beat the police officer. SaharaReporters learned that both the police officer and the worker he shot were rushed to the hospital.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Magaji Majiya denied reports that the police officer shot a protester. He did disclose that only “blank ammunition or rubber bullets” and tear gas were used to disperse the protesting crowd.
Mr. Majiya confirmed that one police officer was injured during the incident but had since been discharged while the injured worker was still receiving treatment at the hospital.
