Passerby shot as drivers protest police 'extortion

There was pandemonium yesterday in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja when a trigger-happy cop shot a teenager on the leg during a protest against the police by bus and taxi drivers.An eyewitness, Victor Philips, said the victim was walking few meters away from the protesters when he was hit by a bullet in the leg. He said the shot was fired by a policeman in an attempt to disperse the protesters.Another source said two gun shots were heard in quick succession about 3 hours into the protest and one of them struck the passer-by.Efforts to get his name were unsuccessful as he was in pains. He was later taken to an undisclosed hospital by the police, a Police man who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed.A source said trouble started when a police mobile team attempted to prevent drivers from parking within an unauthorized parking area by removing their vehicle number plates.'We resisted the police action because for long they have been doing that and drivers could only get back their number plates after paying between N6,000 and N10,000 to the police,' one of the protesters, who didn't disclose his name, said.One of the drivers, Anayo, said, 'we were loading at Wuse bus stop, when some mobile policemen, driving against traffic parked in front of us and started arresting vehicles parked by the road. They left the road and started beating the drivers, tearing off their plate numbers. That is why we said enough is enough.'Addressing newsmen on the incident, Police Commissioner Mike E. Zuokumor, said the drivers resisted police orders to keep away from unauthorized places and there was 'unrest' but more officers were dispatched to the area to restore normalcy. He however claimed not to be aware of any shooting incident.He said, 'the road was obstructed and the police men tried to clear the road, in the course of it, there was fracas, more police men had to be deployed and officers also went and restored normalcy, in the course of the commotion, somebody sustained an injury from what I was told, but no fire arm was used. I will be surprised to hear that someone was shot.'The commercial drivers barricaded all roads leading to Wuse market area, preventing private car owners from moving into the area for several hours in the morning.
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