PH
Abuja – Three people met their demise on Wednesday following a raid on traders at a Lagos market place, Punch reports.
The raid, which was conducted by officials attached to the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, was carried out at Iddo Onireke.
Reportedly acting on a government directive, the police were set to demolish shops in the area before traders resisted the forced action.
Two people are alleged to have drowned in the lagoon after sustaining bullet wounds.
The third of the deceased was alleged to have been crushed to death by a truck during the confusion.
It has been reported that traders had erected makeshift houses in the area and allegedly attacked police with bottles and stones after hearing that they had entered the market space.
Police opened fire on the crowd shortly after the mayhem began, sending traders fleeing to the waterside for cover and causing the death of to people as a result.
The irate crowd is alleged to have began attacked vehicles travelling through the area, even managing to break the windscreen of a bulldozer sent into Iddo Onireke by police officials.
Police officers have since claims that they were fired at first before they retaliated with gunfire of their own.
Taofiq Adebayo, Public Affairs Officer for the task force, disclosed that 155 hoodlums were arrested, with 150 motorcycles being impounded as a result of the chaos.
