Soldiers Reportedly Fatally Shoot 2 Youths During Peaceful Protest

The families of two persons, Oyegwu Afoso and David Agbagie, have been thrown into mourning after soldiers allegedly shot them to death in the Afokpella community, in the Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State.

According to PUNCH members of the community embarked on a peaceful protest to express their grievances against underemployment by the two cement factories operating in the community.

During the demonstration which started around 6am on Monday, the protesters were said to be chanting solidarity songs as they complained that the portion of indigenes of the community in the employment of the cement factories were casual workers who lose a certain percentage of their salaries to traditional rulers in neighbouring communities.

The demonstration, however, took another turn when protesters compelled members of neighbouring communities to join them in the protest and prevented them from going to the cement factories to work.
Angered by the development, our correspondent gathered that members of one of the neighbouring communities, who were bent on going to work, allegedly mobilised soldiers, men of the Nigerian Police Force, and other security officials to disperse the unarmed protesters.

On getting to the scene, the armed security operatives, in a bid to disperse the protesters in the Afokpella community, reportedly started shooting.
While some of the protesters escaped unhurt, some other protesters who were unlucky, while scampering to safety, sustained varying degrees of bullet injuries.